Fracture
by MisfiredSynapse
Summary: "We're not done," he growled, staring down at her with hard eyes and his wand drawn. She rolled to her feet easily, scoffing in the back of her throat. "We were done a long time ago, Remus." RL/OC.
1. Prologue

**Fracture.**

This is the edited version of my story _Return to Hogwarts. _I wrote the original when I was a kid and boy, was it AWFUL! So, I took it down and now I'm reposting. This version, the beta-version, I can truthfully say is so much better and more real than the first version, which was a bit like "Oh hello, I haven't seen you in thirteen years and you murdered my best friends and orphaned their son who I'm supposed to protect... three seconds later... OMG I FORGIVE YOU!"

Yeah. It was THAT bad. This one... better. Capeesh? Good XD

~**MisfiredSynapse**~

NOTES

Okay, so I'm going to clear a few things up here. Skylee Tabanca is on a mission for the mostly disbanded Order. The mission:

Pose as a Gryffindor third-year in order to protect Harry Potter. She was offered the job for two reasons: She's Voldemort's daughter, and Sirius' cousin. "No-one knows Sirius better than I do. And nobody knows my father- so either way, I'm your best pick Albus." She started this mission as a First Year with Harry, befriending him and Ron on the train. Things are a little confusing as this is technically-but-not-quite a time-travel fic. The PLOT for _this _fic:

Sky is posing as a thirteen-year-old under a very strong Glamour charm. She is chronologically thirty-three, the same age as the Marauders. Because of her connection with Voldemort and Sirius, she is positioned as a 'sleeper', someone who will be able to protect Harry no matter where he is. She chose to be a student to gain access to his life in ways that no adult can; friends, enemies... etc. She began her mission as a First Year with Harry, but this story is centred around PoA.

The age thing might be a bit confusing at first, but if you get your head around it it's actually quite easy to understand. It is the first fic I ever wrote, more or less, so I'm a little attached to it and when I decided to go overhaulin' on my account, I couldn't bear to say goodbye to this completely. So I've basically become my own beta XD

Any questions, just PM me. For those who read the original, the only real changes are the "he said, she said" bits into something with a bit more sophistication. Enjoy Return To Hogwarts: Revisited... which is now known as Unbroken.

Yes, that (RTH: Revisted) is shamelessly stolen from the Matrix. Which, along with Harry Potter, I do not own.

* * *

PROLOGUE

Hogwarts was cold and silent as she approached, her thick dark hair swinging forward to cover her grey eyes and pale skin as she pulled her cloak tighter around her body and rushed from the clanging, shrieking gates to the huge wooden doors. It felt incredibly strange to not see the lights in every window, the Threstrals pulling warm carriages- and to actually see Hogwarts during a clammy summer night.

There was no smell of a fantastic feast wafting on the warm breeze, no sound of happy laughter from hundreds of students piling in to eat, no feel of welcoming or homecoming that Skylee Tabanca had come to expect from the castle throughout her thirty-three years of life. Her grey eyes, crinkled at the corners from laughter and tears, ran up the side of the monstrous building to Gryffindor Tower, and the topmost peak where she had once declared herself in love for the very first time.

A small smile came upon her lips, pink with a little cherry-flavoured lip-gloss; edible stuff for twelve-year-olds that she used obsessively. It was a way of holding onto her childhood really, though not even the twelve-year-olds she knew used it.

Skylee greeted the cold stone castle with a pale, slightly translucent hand running over the blackened slate of the huge banisters leading to the wrought iron front doors. They had once been patterened, probably the height of fashion when they were made, but they'd faded in the thousand years since the Founders walked alive. Now, the swirling indentations of the Hogwarts Crest were all but gone, the faintest sign of Helga Hufflepuff's corner still visible in full daylight.

At night, however, they were black and strangely intimidating even to someone who had approached them many times at night; sometimes with a rather pissed-off werewolf on her heels, or a fuming cousin with a bright green 'whore' tattooed on his forehead. Wind howled in the Forest behind her and Sky had to shudder; Hogwarts without students was not a very welcoming place.

She took a moment to wonder where her last remaining friend was as she studied the dark trees, the foremost of them illuminated into glowing by the full moon above her. She hadn't seen _him _since 1981, nearly thirteen years now. To be fair, she hadn't tried very hard to find him either, but for someone who claimed ten million times to be more of a gentleman than the likes of James Potter, Remus hadn't done a very good job of living up to it.

Shivering again as a wolf called to a hunting pack _(or a werewolf called for his mate)_, Sky pushed the door open a mere crack and slipped into the Entrance Hall. It was as dark and daunting as the rest of the Grounds and she found herself wondering _why _anyone would want to spend a solitary summer within it. But still, Albus Dumbledore had never been a very rational man and it was he who shone his wandlight in her face and showed her to his office. They didn't talk because in a school where the walls have eyes- painted ones, at least- they also have ears and this kind of information was not to be shared with anybody.

"Fizzing sherbet," Dumbledore said conversationally to a stone gargoyle, which jumped aside obediently as it was programmed to do. The Headmaster gave a minute bow, the silver hair on his shoulders falling forward just slightly, as he stepped onto the revolving staircase and Sky quickly followed him, silently laughing at the choice of password.

"You know, you're eventually going to run out of sweets," she informed him softly. Dumbledore turned to look at her quizzically, one silvery eyebrow raising into his hairline and his famous twinkling blue eyes seeming to dance in the darkness of the stairwell.

"I'll simply have to invent new flavours then, shan't I?" Dumbledore responded with a small grin, his lips twitching upwards and staying that way. Sky couldn't actually _see _the grin for the beard, but the whiskers moved and something in her head whispered 'smile back'. So she did, but only half-heartedly. She felt remotely out-of-place which was actually surprising; she had been in this office so many times as a girl, and intermittently as a woman fighting for the Order.

"Like what?" Sky asked, just to keep the conversation rolling. Her hands clenched around the inside of her pocket as the stairs became narrower, and she had to force the air to keep moving into her body. Irrationally, she remembered a blonde joke from somewhere in her past; why did the blonde die? She forgot to breathe... luckily for me, Sky thought, I'm brunette.

"Mango Bloodpops," Dumbledore replied almost instantly, turning his back and pushing open the door to his office. Sky's heart leapt before settling in her chest like a startled hummingbird, rattling around behind her ribs until she was off the narrow step and in a wider space.

"Please tell me you're making that up." She couldn't help but smile at the Headmaster's office; it hadn't changed, and unlike the rest of the castle it wasn't remotely dark or daunting. The fire crackled merrily in the corner, Fawkes hooted a soft greeting at her from his perch, the portraits were all snoring happily in their frames and Dumbledore had a bottle of cured mead on his desk with two half-glasses poured, one before his high-backed armchair and one in front of the plush single sofa that Sky sank into gratefully.

"How is Harry?" Dumbledore asked, levitating another log onto the fire and causing a wave of heat to wash over the room. Sky quickly stripped off her travelling cloak; she really didn't need it but it was more of a comfort than anything, like a child with a blanket. She'd been wearing it the night she and Remus... no, the past had no place on a night like this. It would only lead to more heartbreak and God knows she'd had enough.

"Well, he's not locked in a cupboard anymore and Vernon mostly ignores him, a vast improvement over last summer. I suppose they're still terrified I'm going to finish Hagrid's duty and actually transfigure Dudley into a pig." Her grey eyes shimmered in the firelight, a rather cliché way of stating the way they swept across the portraits but really the only way of explaining how they reflected the fire.

"You must not lose your temper with them. Petunia's adjusting to once again having a connection with our world," Dumbledore said reassuringly, as if his word was law and Sky would bend to his will regardless. She would, if it meant doing the world a good turn.

"I'm not going to. Even if I did, I doubt either of them would notice. There's not much difference between 'darling Dudders' and a fat pig," Sky couldn't repress a giggle but when the Headmaster didn't join her, it died in her throat. Lame jokes aside, the room was full of tension and Sky knew what was coming before it did.

"Are you still willing to continue your assignment, in light of recent occurrences?"

"You mean Sirius," she said sharply, drawing her breath through her teeth- wishing he just said it instead of hinting. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so close to her past, the last time she'd said _that _name aloud in the presence of others. Somehow, saying it made everything so much more real; Lily and James dead, Peter dead, Remus _gone, _Skylee alone and grieving... thinking of Sirius made one thing brutally clear. _You trusted him, and he tore your world apart. It's not fixable._

Dumbledore inclined his head, hiding his expressive blue eyes so she couldn't read him. She was usually a good judge of character, but her judgement was based on eyes. For one with her father's natural gift of Legimancy, the eyes truly were windows to the soul.

"No-one knows Sirius better than I do. And nobody knows my father- either way; I'm your best pick Albus."

He finally looked up, staring at her hard and trying to find if she was in any way hiding something. Hurt and pain she tried to tone down, because she didn't know if she was really ready to face everything, even after all this time the wounds had never really healed. She had never tried to fix it, just shouldered her grief and moved on, keeping herself busy day after day to stop herself thinking about them.

"The question is, Skylee... could you kill Sirius if it came down to it?"

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, images of her childhood, her schooldays with Lily and James and Peter and Remus, laughing in the Tower, studying in the library, locked in a classroom with Remus for seven minutes of what was _really _heaven, imagining Sirius kneeling before the Dark Lord... _I can give you the Potters... _

Opening the eyes she shared with her cousin, Skylee nodded. "Yes."

Dumbledore nodded back at her and produced the Elder Wand. She stared at the legendary item for the longest time, not fully aware of what it was but knowing there was something special about it. Lord Voldemort's blood in her veins sang at the sight of it, his unconscious influence calling for her to grab it and rise against the Muggleborn infiltration- Skylee's gaze snapped to Fawkes as he squawked and she was grateful for the interruption.

"Term starts in two days, Miss Tabanca. The Hogwarts Express will depart from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at eleven sharp- I suggest you are aboard it." Dumbledore waved his wand and Skylee felt the skin on her body becoming younger, more supple, her hair lengthening by a little and her eyes swam in her head for a moment. A warm trickling sensation ran down her scalp, a shudder following it as she gripped the armrests of her chair tightly and her body shrank rapidly. She risked a glance in the mirror and though _this _had been her face for the better part of two years now, she couldn't help but give a satisfied smile.

She was thirteen again.

* * *

Okay, so I kinda lied up top. I also changed my characters from the one-dimensional things they were into actual people. I hope what you've seen of Skylee so far- and what you will see of the Marauders, the Trio, the Order etc- will live up to standard =P

**MisfiredSynapse.**


	2. Bad Beginning

**UNBROKEN**

9/17/2010

MisfiredSynapse

-[-]-

_It has been twelve long, hard years since the Potter murders. For ten of those, Skylee lived alone as a rather embittered woman who never really got over it. Her life began anew with the offer of a long-term assignment from Dumbledore, who handed her a new lease on life and the chance to be close to the only living reminder of her murdered or missing friends. Become Harry Potter's protector during his school years; pose as a student, grow with him, live with him and befriend him._

_So far, so good... until Skylee's past returns to haunt her. Sirius Black, Azkaban escapee, betrayer, murderer and _cousin _is on the loose, targeting Harry. Remus Lupin, a former lover, returns to teach at the school while Skylee is a "student". How will she handle recurring feelings for her old flame, hatred and rage at Sirius, revealing the truth to a delicate Harry and the idea of her father- Lord Voldemort- rising once more?_

_She's been broken before. It's time for the shattered Skylee to be unbroken... but picking up fragments of a life isn't easy when you're pretending to be someone you're not._

* * *

"Thanks again, Mrs. Weasley," Sky called across the platform, twirling in her new skirt and flicking her dark hair across her shoulders. She had _energy _this morning, despite never usually rising from sleep until at least midday. Damn, she thought with an inward grin, it's good to be young again. The Weasley matriarch gave a small smile at the woman-turned-girl's antics and shook her head.

"Have a good year, all of you!" Molly smiled, giving Ginny a stern look that was halfway between 'be careful' and 'write to me as often as you can or else'. Fred and George swiftly gave their mother a simultaeneous peck on opposite cheeks before darting off to accost Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson. Percy stooped low to kiss his mother before he caught the eye of a pretty Ravenclaw girl and he disappeared into the bowels of the train with the girl smiling up at him soppily.

Harry and Hermione stowed their trunks away, Skylee following suit, and managed to escape classic Molly bear-hugs as the train's whistle blew. It still sent pleasant chills down the spine of every graduated witch and wizard present; most, if not all, could remember boarding it for the first time, and the uncertainty it represented. Later, the going home feel.

"Ronald, don't drag your case," Mrs Weasley chided her son as he attempted to sneak by her. Unfortunately, between holding a struggling Scabbers in his pocket and dragging his case upside down, he made a bit of a racket and caught his mother's attention. Molly was a lovely woman, but you really didn't want to be in her focus for too long or she started fussing.

"Sorry Mum," Ron rolled his eyes, nearly throwing the trunk into the train and not quite managing to escape Molly's firm grip as she dragged him into a hug. Ron was already a good foot taller than her and he ended up bent awkwardly, to the amused glance of Draco Malfoy. Sky giggled despite herself and thought idly that she ought to act her "age"... which of course, only made her giggle harder. A short movement from the corner of her eye alerted her to the boy she was supposed to be watching; Harry. His dishevelled black hair was everywhere though he'd tried to tame it (unsuccessfully) and his glasses were fogging on the end of his nose. He was looking around nervously, wringing his hands with his wand stuck in his back pocket.

She frowned, her forehead crinkling and her rather bushy eyebrows dipping to cover her eyes, making her look more like she was glaring at the boy than frowning in confusion. She followed Harry's gaze and saw nothing, but Arthur Weasley was also looking quite concerned and Sky had to sigh in exasperation. She hoped he hadn't told Harry everything... not just yet, the boy needed a few days of being 'just Harry' before the world imploded on him again.

"Arthur. What did you say to him?" Sky whispered to Ron's father, beckoning the tall redhead closer with one finger. She hung out of the train by one hand, hovering precariously over the gap between machine and solid ground without the six-foot-fall seeming to bother the ex-Chaser at all.

"I just told him not to go after Sirius," Arthur replied under his breath, shooting a look around in case anybody was too close. Skylee let out a breath and nodded slowly, knowing she was going to have to face it sooner or later. It was what she was here for, at least... _this was only supposed to be a year-long thing, _she thought. _First year to help protect that Stone, second because the Chamber opened and Malfoy was stirring up history, now because of Sirius... will Harry ever be truly safe?_

"He wouldn't. And if Sirius shows his face at Hogwarts, I'll kill him myself for what he did to us," Sky muttered. The train hooted twice, ready to go, and she gave Arthur a tiny smile as she drew away in time to avoid being crushed by the slamming door. Returning to the group, Sky was met by Harry's stare and she shrugged at him, leaning over Hermione to wave to the Weasley parents.

"Bye! Goodbye!" Hermione called, though Molly and Arthur couldn't hope to hear over the train puffing and through the glass. Slowly, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Skylee walked up and down the train and finally found a carriage that was empty but for a man sleeping in the corner. Sky's heart skipped about four beats and she rocked back on her heels as if someone had king-hit her in the chest. All the breath flew from her lungs and her eyes snapped open wide; thirteen years of not knowing if he were alive or dead, and he turns up on the Hogwarts Express of all places.

He looked almost the same as he had the last time she'd seen him. His caramel-blonde hair had a few more premature grey streaks, his eyes were more lined and she suddenly longed for him to open them so she could see the cocky smile contained in the light blue irises. He wore a ratty, patched set of brown robes and on the whole, had a rough homeless look about him that broke her heart to see. In the few seconds she took to study him, Skylee realised how much she'd missed this man. God, how she had missed him!

"Remus," Sky muttered, heart still fluttering and grey eyes wide with shock and surprise. They stung with tears as she sat beside him gingerly, fearing waking him- he looked like he could use the sleep. She tore her eyes away, forcing herself to stop staring before one of the trio could ask her about him. Skylee didn't dare open her mouth in fear of what might escape.

"Who's that?" Ron asked quietly, confused at the appearance of an adult on the train. It was unusual, really; only the driver and his wife with the sweets trolley were normally seen aboard the Express. Sky tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't give too much away when Hermione gave a small giggle at Ron's expense.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," she said astutely, her voice taking on a prim tone that made Skylee smile. The name sounded so... professional, coming from Hermione that way. Remus would enjoy having this girl in his class; she was observant, clever and had a brilliant memory. A wave of fear suddenly swept Sky into breathlessness again- Remus would be teaching. Skylee was a _student._

"How does she know?" Ron asked, surprised and a little suspicious of his best friend's knowledge. With a long-suffering sigh and a look at Harry, which was met with a blank look equal to Ron's, Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed above Remus' head.

"It's on his case Ronald, see?" Hermione replied, exasperated. Sky smiled at her and bit the inside of her lip. Should she tell Remus the truth, or give him the same cover she used on everyone bar Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, the Weasleys and the Golden Trio? To tell Remus that she was "the daughter of Skylee Tabanca with no known father and her namesake mother long dead" could do more harm than good, in the end. How would Remus react to the lie? Not very well, she surmised quickly.

"You alright, Harry?" Skylee asked, noticing Harry's silence and distracting herself from the sleeping man next to her for a minute or two. A pair of mournful green eyes behind thick glasses span her way and Sky had to take a breath or two to keep her head planted firmly in 1993, not 1973. He wasn't James and she wasn't a child, she was a grown woman who was just pretending to be something she's not to save the only living reminder of her dead friends.

"Yeah. I'm just a bit worried, you know, with Sirius Black being out to get me and all," he said miserably. Heartstrings tugging painfully in her chest, Skylee settled herself more comfortably in the space between Remus and Harry and wracked her brains for a way to cheer him up. A moment of silence passed in the compartment, broken only by Remus breathing heavily in his sleep- he must have a cold, poor thing, Sky thought vaguely- before she snapped her fingers.

"Aha! I've got it!" she cried, sitting bolt upright and wincing as Remus snorted and pulled his cloak tighter around his body. Skylee held her breath and watched him before turning sheepishly to the trio- all of whom had to stifle laughter in their sleeves.

"Got what?" Ron asked finally, sniggering still as he imitated the snort quietly and set them off again. Ninety seconds, the laughter lasted, more than enough time for memories to start swirling and for Skylee to snap herself back to the present.

"In our fourth year-"

"Sky, no!" Hermione shot a horrified look at Remus, who was sleeping deeply again, then at Sky. Nobody moved as the dark-haired little witch shrugged and poked the man's face with one finger. He didn't move. She conjured a phoenix feather and tickled his nose to horrified glances from her friends, but Remus didn't so much as flinch. Only a loud, sudden noise would wake him; oh, it felt good to be on the inside sometimes, she grinned.

"He won't hear a thing, Hermione. And if he does, I'll make up some bullshit," Sky shrugged but Hermione still looked on edge, her wide brown doe eyes locked on Remus for a full minute before she nodded daintily. Curiosity played a role in her consent, the urge to hear about the legendary Lily and James Potter from someone who had been there overcoming the fear of someone overhearing. Sky was a pretty good liar anyway.

"In our fourth year, we were up against Slytherin in the prelim Quidditch finals," Sky began, sinking into her seat and into memory. She could feel Harry's hungry gaze on her face and could nearly taste the excitement thrumming through his body; it hurt to know how little he knew of his parents.

"Your Dad had been on the team for a year longer than I had, he was a bloody brilliant Chaser, and he taught me everything I know... though, I didn't appreciate him teaching me how to avoid Bludgers... levitating rocks to chase me for a week straight is _not _the best method- especially when I was your mother's best friend and damn, that girl was downright nasty when he ticked her off."

Harry gave a muffled snort of laughter and couldn't help but shoot a look at Hermione and Ron, both of whom were leaning forward to hear the story. They were the living representation of his parents that Harry had formulated from Sky's stories and whatever rumours he'd heard over the years.

"Anyway, right before the start of the game, James and I snuck into the Slytherin broom shed and Charmed all the brooms to turn into snakes if anyone touched them. Non-poisonous, of course. You should've heard those Slytherin arseholes _scream... _music to our ears," Skylee trailed off dreamily, remembering hiding in the Gryffindor locker room with the rest of the team and _pissing _herself laughing at them.

"Who won?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Slytherin. Only because they took me out in the first five minutes and my reserve had gone home with dragon pox... we played with two Chasers for seven hours in the blistering rain, until we caught the Snitch but by then it was too late. The green devils snatched our chance at getting the Cup from under our noses... James refused to leave his bed for three whole days."

"Sounds like Oliver Wood, though he sits in the showers until the water goes cold," Harry replied. Chuckling, Skylee spread her hands innocently and nodded in agreement; James used to do that, too. Perhaps all Quidditch-obsessed men were the same? Though Harry seemed to show some restraint in the post-loss-mourning stage.

"How did you snap him out of it?" Ron asked with a sly smile at Harry, who stuck out his tongue and tried to kick his best mate's shin. The redhead- growing up with five brothers- dodged expertly and raised an eyebrow at Sky.

She chewed her lip for a minute, before sneaking a glance at Harry out the corner of her eye and grinning widely. "Usually, I told him Lily was strip-teasing for Snape in some random classroom... he _always _fell for it."

They didn't even bother to muffle their laughter at that; Ron slapped his knee, Harry fell against the door and Hermione leaned into Ron slightly, the motion just enough for Scabbers to start squealing indignantly, which set Crookshanks off into yowling loudly- Remus jerked in his sleep and quickly, the animals were wrenched apart.

"No, Crookshanks!" Hermione scolded in a harsh whisper. The cat growled and Ron held Scabbers near the window, the poor rat trembling something horrid. Skylee rolled her eyes and held out her hand to take the rodent and hide him in _her _pocket, away from the cat. Scabbers squealed louder and bit at her fingers, thrashing away until she withdrew her hand and glared at him.

"You keep that mangy monster away from Scabbers, Hermione, or I swear I'll-"

"Why are we stopping?" Harry interrupted suddenly, eyes wide with surprise as the train jolted and screeched to a stop. They had been moving for less than two hours, enough to have reached the Scotland border... the school was at least another three hours away.

"We can't be there already!" Hermione exclaimed, her wand hovering and writing the time in glowing white letters. Skylee reached for her own wand and shivered as the train shuddered and jerked back, rocking from side to side in the wind they could now hear.

"There's something moving out there!" Ron whimpered as the windows began to glaze over and the bottle of water on the ledge near Remus froze. The redhead was wide-eyed and staring at something outside, Hermione gave a tiny gasp and Harry looked pale as death. Her eyebrows drawn over her grey eyes, Skylee pushed her face against the icy window and tried to peer through... the dark, shifting shadows outside seemed to swarm over the train.

"Damn the Ministry. Sirius is a fool but he wouldn't be on the train!" Sky murmured anxiously, twirling her wand between her fingers to keep warmth in them. She huddled against Remus, feeling the ice from the windows forming in her breath as everything good and happy began to leave the train.

The door slid open and Sky shot to her feet, holding her wand protectively as she stepped in front of the children. She might _look _thirteen, but in her head the real reason for her second chance was never far away; protect Harry.

"Ginny, good," Ron said with a hint of relief, dragging his sister into the seat next to him. The redhead girl smiled at Harry, who blushed back, and quickly looked at Neville who edged his way into the compartment and took Sky's seat. There was no room left for sitting but that wasn't a problem for the little dark-haired witch, who preferred to fight standing up anyway.

"Do you know what's going on?" Neville asked, looking to Harry for the answer. Emerald eyes looked to Skylee, who shrugged and rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to regain the warmth as the darkness encroached and suddenly, voices and pictures played out behind her eyes and she had to shake her head to get rid of them.

_Remus looked devastated as the blood rushed from his face, leaving him pale... _Skylee rubbed her eyes and shook her head again, locking her gaze on the door and waiting for it to open. _The white letter fell from his hands, fluttering to the ground, and she could see the header... Hogwarts... _She gripped her wand tighter, blinking twice and hissing through her teeth, watching the breath fog and float into nothing. _Six words rising off the page and tearing her heart from her chest- Lily and James gone. Harry alive..._

The power flickered, the lights finally snapping off and leaving the group stranded in darkness. Ginny shrieked and Crookshanks yowled as someone sat on his tail, Ron snapped threateningly at Hermione, Neville gave a quiet whimper, Harry was remarkably quiet with the moonlight glinting off the wire frames of his glasses.

It was amazing that Remus was still dozing quietly in the corner, though Skylee prayed he'd wake up soon because she needed someone else to help her, someone who knew what they were doing. She loved the kids to death but faced with a monster guard of Azkaban...

"Oh God..." Skylee moaned as the door slid open agonisingly slowly... a bony, rotting hand curled around the frame and pushed it back- thank Merlin it didn't creak, though it would've been appropriate- a dark hood peered through the gap and Harry gave a short gasp of terror.

_..."They're dead, Lily and James, they're gone!" past Remus sobbed, weeping into his arms as Sky fell to her knees and pressed her head to the cool wood of the kitchen floor, unable to breathe..._

_..."I can't do this anymore, Sky. I'm sorry, it's just too hard." Remus dragged his case through the front door, the sound of the latch masking the soft wail she couldn't hold back..._

_..."We'll be mates for like, ever, right Sky? C'mon, I'm Sirius!" he grabbed her hand, twirling her under his elbow as she laughed and met his gaze, unable to see the shadows lurking under the steely grey gaze..._

_..."You killed them! Your fault they're dead! I hate you!" she screamed at him, aching to reach through the bars and strangle the son-of-a-bitch herself. Sirius looked up at her pathetically, tears streaming down his face. _

"_I love you," he whispered..._

The Dementor's eyeless black hood swept over all of them, resting on Skylee for a minute or two, enough to revert her to a silently weeping, trembling mess, before turning to Harry and swooping down on him. He went rigid, shaking violently and gaping wordlessly. Hermione tried to grab him but the boy fell from his seat, convulsing on the floor- the thud of his head against the ground snapped Skylee into action; she fell to her knees beside him and raised her wand at the monster.

"_Expecto patronum!" _she muttered, the silvery mist erupting from her wand and fading miserably. She wasn't concentrating, she was scared for Harry, the Dementor was making her remember things she'd worked so hard to repress...

"Remus!" Sky cried, kicking his ankles roughly. He jerked in his seat, obviously awake now as he rolled nimbly to his feet and stepped in front of the Dementor, the lines on his face hardened into a determined glare.

"None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks," he said clearly, blue eyes narrowing as the Dementor breathed in and Harry let out a tiny keening wail. Skylee pressed a hand to his forehead and stared up at Remus, stunned into silence and inaction. She couldn't do anything without letting him in on the secret anyway... and she wasn't ready for that, not before consulting Dumbledore...

"Leave us now," Remus continued, his voice containing a hard, determined note she had only heard a few times in her life... the Dementor hesitated a moment, finding a shred of happiness still lurking in the corner of a still-unconscious Harry's mind. With a flick of his well-practised hand, Remus shot a silvery beam of light that didn't fade pathetically. It took the very faint form of a wolf, and the Guard of Azkaban fled down the hall before it.

"What," Hermione began shakily, "in the name of sweet Merlin, was that?"

Sky heaved Harry into a sitting position and straightened his glasses on his face, her body smaller than his and her strength not what it once was. She was quite grateful when Neville, pale and shaking, hooked his arms under Harry's head and heaved the raven-haired boy onto a seat.

"Dementor," Skylee murmured faintly, but in the silence it was clearly audible. She sensed Remus' curious gaze on the back of her head but she refused to look at him, more concerned with getting Harry revived and awake again.

"They guard Azkaban, the wizard's prison," Remus said in an undertone, digging in the pockets of his abandoned coat and pulling out a half eaten bar of Honeydukes' Finest. Unsurprising. A tense silence settled on the group, broken only by the snap of the chocolate and muttered graces as Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville and Sky accepted their pieces.

"Thanks," the latter said softly, avoiding his eyes and concentrating on Harry again. She couldn't risk Remus knowing, not yet at least. It wouldn't do much harm for him to know, it might even do them both some good, but her heart was just not ready for it. Seeing Remus... made the absence of Lily and James so much more obvious- and it hurt like hell.

"Harry. Kiddo, c'mon, wake up mate- _Harry," _Sky poked the unconscious boy in the ribs and he shifted with a groan. She hated seeing his lips drawn down into a frown, the lines on his forehead deepening and already seeming halfway permanent. "Harry. Bloody. Potter," she growled at him, half serious. "Open those eyes of yours or I'm going to pry them. With a frickin' crowbar."

It wasn't really all that funny, but Ron and Hermione snickered despite themselves and Neville gave a tiny squeak. Ginny giggled to herself, the first sound she'd made since the Dementor. It hadn't occurred to Skylee before then that maybe they all had demons; she was thinking only of _her _problems, and how Harry witnessed... Lily... lights flickered on the train again, giving them all reasons to blink and wince in the sudden transition from dark to bright.

"No," Harry muttered, the word forced out between upwards-tilting lips. Sky gave her own tiny smile as his eyes fluttered open and he looked at her for the longest time, eyes unfocussed. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright and did a very fast headcount. "Who screamed?" he demanded, gaze on Skylee's expectantly.

She shot a look at Hermione, who took a breath to answer. "Harry... nobody screamed."

"Are you sure? I could swear I heard someone screaming... my name..."

Skylee jumped and held her breath at that, her heart racing as her mind pulled forth an image of just who Harry could hear in his head- _Lily_. Pain shattered her heart into fragments and she fought to breathe steadily, fought to keep her expression under control. She risked a peek up at Remus, who looked very uncomfortable as he stared at Harry and mouthed one word to himself- _James._

"No-one screamed mate," Ron said in a low, concerned voice. "But you went kinda still, all rigid, and you fell on the floor twitching... like you were having a fit or something... bloody scary." Harry paled even more and closed his eyes, shaking his head with shame.

"Here, Harry," Remus murmured, seeking to comfort the boy without being overly affectionate and scaring the daylights out of him. The biggest piece of chocolate was waved before Harry's nose, until he took it and nibbled tentatively. The look of surprise and happiness was enough to cause Remus to roll his eyes before he stepped around the kneeling Skylee and slid the door open.

"Excuse me, but I must have a word with the driver... eat the rest of this, won't you?" Remus tossed the rest to Neville and left in a flurry, clearly needing the air and space as much as he needed to talk to the driver. Skylee watched him go and bit her lip.

"Did any of you... y'know... faint?" Harry whispered, unable to meet anyone's eyes. Feeling a little more at ease now that the pressure of maintaining her cover was mostly eased, Skylee took Remus' abandoned seat and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still warm and faintly smelling of _him._

Nobody nodded, which made Harry growl softly and turn to glare at the door. "Then I'm the only one _weak _enough-"

"Don't," Sky snapped before he could go too far. Harry's emerald green eyes snapped to hers and hardened; she had been impressed the first time that he- and his friends- had the courage to speak to her as if she _was _their age and not simply posing; Harry didn't disappoint her now.

"Don't _what? _Nobody else collapsed! Nobody else fell into a fit of-"

"Nobody else has witnessed what you have," she muttered, much quieter than his angry ranting but it was enough to make Harry's voice betray him as it squeaked and fell to nothing, his mouth opening and closing and his eyes widening in shock.

"What exactly do Dementors do?" Ginny asked the question quickly, though everyone looked faintly interested in the answer. Monsters like that weren't usual household topics, weren't even mentioned in Hogwarts until Fifth Year. Nobody wanted children exposed to _evil _like that before they were mature enough to comprehend reality and fiction.

Skylee didn't want to tell a bunch of thirteen-year-olds, but it wasn't only Harry who was looking at her expectantly. They- Harry, Ron and Hermione- often looked to her for the answers because they knew she had them. Ginny and Neville had accepted the story Skylee had told the rest of the school- her mother was an Auror. Not exactly a lie... but not the whole truth either.

"Dementors..." Sky began slowly, folding her hands and twisting her fingers in her lap. Nobody moved as her reluctance spread throughout the compartment, but nobody gave her a reprieve either. With a sigh, Skylee forced herself to tell them the truth. She wouldn't sugar-coat things like this, and if the Dementors were at the school... "are simply the foulest beasts to ever walk the earth. They are... they are like death personified; they suck everything good and happy and warm out of a person, feeding off any feelings that are remotely positive. They cause you to relive your worst memories, and if you're around them long enough they take everything. Your magic, your good memories, your sanity... that's why they're used to guard the prison... because people in Azkaban... they deserve to suffer." That last bit had more bitterness than she intended and Neville winced in response.

"Some of them should be dead," he hissed, looking at the countryside that was moving steadily outside. Sky nodded, picturing the laughing face of Sirius Black as they dragged him out of the courthouse...

"Or Kissed," she whispered. Ron, Ginny and Neville shuddered awfully at the words while Harry and Hermione looked vaguely revolted. They had no idea what was implied but the temperature of the compartment had dropped several degrees.

"What?" Hermione asked at the same time as Harry said;

"How?"

"Dementors are soul-suckers," Remus' voice replied as he re-entered the compartment and gave a tiny, sad smile to Skylee. Her chest tightened painfully and she couldn't hold his gaze for longer than a second or two. "They literally suck the souls out of their victims. The last thing someone condemned sees is the lowered hood before they lose themselves- spend the rest of their lives as shells of a human, lost and incoherent in a special mass-cell in Azkaban's basement."

"Usually reserved those who are really, _really _bad, right? Like, werewolves?" Ginny asked, earning herself a stern glare from Skylee and Remus both. The latter shrugged and grabbed his case, looking rather sheepish. He could never lie when he was a kid, and he hadn't improved over the years. If he didn't stop looking so transparent, then maybe he'd be able to hide the truth for a bit longer.

"Only the minority of werewolves actually deserve the abuse they get," Skylee said softly, busy inspecting her nails when Remus looked her way. He took a breath and nodded.

"Most werewolves... most of them try to live like decent people," he said quietly, his voice taking on a rather wistful note. Sky didn't dare look up; she felt his eyes burning holes into her head and she knew that to look at him would spell her undoing. She'd spill the beans right here, in front of Ginny and Neville, and then everything would be so much harder to keep secret.

"Most succeed," Hermione declared primly, having no idea of course how her words made Remus and Skylee smile. The students fell quiet as the professor said a soft goodbye and closed the door behind him. The Dementor and the consequent conversation had successfully removed all light-heartedness from the train, which made the six fall into a weary silence as the Express sped across the Scottish moors.

-[-]-

Okay, so there's the intro/first chapter. This one was the longest so far because, well, it's the first and is kind of a feeler as to whether this is going to work or not. If people have sat through this, then you should (hopefully) be locked into the ride.

I promise, I'll try to keep it at the same level of detail throughout the story.


	3. Confrontational Rumours

Confrontational Rumours.

It was unusual for the ride to Hogwarts to pass while everybody remained awake, but this one did. Neville and Ginny had left some time earlier, one to find his toad and the other to find friends in her year. Percy stuck his head in to make sure everyone was alright, along with the sweet-laden lady with the squeaky trolley. Not even Ron was in the mood for food as the four of them stared idly at different parts of the compartment.

It wasn't entirely uncomfortable, though Skylee felt slightly curious as to what the others had heard or seen in the Dementor's influence. She knew what Harry would hear; Lily and James, their final moments. Voldemort's voice perhaps, though she prayed otherwise. She hated that his earliest memory was _them, _even more that she shared blood with such a monster.

"Are we there yet?" Harry asked.

"Does it _look _like we're there yet?" Hermione replied shortly, pointing out the window at the infinite blackness of the Scottish moors. The first words spoken for nearly an hour and they were utterly useless at sparking conversation.

"You should change now anyway, the school's only about fifteen minutes away," Skylee murmured, unable to draw her eyes away from the suitcase above her head. Tell him, don't tell him? She should probably ask Dumbledore first because what if Remus wasn't coming to Hogwarts to teach? It would be a fine mess indeed if he was only on the train to get a ride to Hogsmeade- _why couldn't he Apparate? The moon's two days away- _or maybe he just wanted to catch up with Snape- _not likely, they hate each other as much as Harry and Draco- _or perhaps Remus was simply wishing a conversation with Dumbledore regarding teaching.

"Right. We'll change here, Harry. You girls head off to the bathroom," Ron said, standing and easily scooping his and Harry's clothes off the rack and throwing the latter's bag at him. Skylee half considered showing off her formidable magical dressing skills and using a charm to change her outfit, but almost instantly decided against it.

"_We're off to Hogsmeade, Sky. You coming or not?" James asked, pausing with the Cloak in his hands and Sirius looking ready to wet himself. Remus gave her a shy smile and Peter grinned, both looking a little uncomfortable about squeezing another person under the cloak. A girl of all people, too! Not just any girl, either, but a girl who could hex your bits off without batting an eyelid._

"_Yeah. We grabbing dinner on the way down?" Sky snapped her book shut and stood, stretching her arms above her head and revealing a tiny slice of skin around her midriff. She wasn't unaware of Remus staring; quite enjoyed knowing she had his attention, actually. _

"_Dinner was over an hour ago, Skylee," Remus_ _said quietly, laughing along with the rest at the look of shock and then annoyance she gave the book, which was carelessly tossed onto the couch._

"_Last time I take your advice, Remus Lupin," she muttered, reaching for her wand. The boys waited impatiently as she pictured a casual pair of jeans and crimson button-up shirt she wished to wear instead of the school trousers in white. With a swish of her wand, she felt her uniform removed and..._

"_OH MY GOD! MY EYES!" Sirius screamed. Guffaws of laughter emitted from James, who shut up as Skylee glared at him and spun in her clothes. "STOP! THE PAIN! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"_

"_Shut _up, _Sirius. What the hell is wrong with you?" Sky snapped, gesturing down at herself. She followed her hand and gave a scream of horror as she realised exactly what she was wearing. Nothing. Well, that is to say, nothing over her lacy black bra and panties... _thank god I'm wearing those today! _Horror and terror and shame washed over her as she grabbed Remus and hid behind him, tears of mortification welling in her eyes._

"_Skylee," Remus whispered. She held him close to her as she edged along the wall to the stairs, trusting her best friend not to look when she darted upstairs to dress. "It would appear that you're not wearing any clothes."_

"_And the entire House is laughing at me," she muttered. Remus chuckled and kept his eyes closed as she let go of his collar and dashed up the stairs. He couldn't help a tiny peek as she reached the top and felt his face flush red when she caught his gaze with a cheeky little wink._

Skylee bit the inside of her lip as she pulled down her bag and caught up to Hermione at the door. Crookshanks leapt up onto Skylee's shoulders as she slid the door closed. Giving the purring cat a sideways, quizzical glance, Hermione shrugged her shoulders and flinched as Crookshanks leapt across to nuzzle underneath her bushy hair.

"Hello, boy," the girl smiled, scratching the squashed nose of the cat.

"You know, I used to have a cat. A little black kitten called Selena; she had a little circle of white fur on her chest, and white socks on her feet. She was the prettiest little thing," Skylee said quietly, smiling wistfully as she traipsed through the halls. She slung her bag across her left shoulder and ran her right hand through her hair; feeling just a little awkward being alone with Hermione, who reminded her so clearly of Lily.

"What happened to her?" Hermione asked, obviously not having the same problem. Skylee hadn't felt quite so out-of-place with Harry's friends since they had been in first year, but after the Dementor and seeing Remus, everything felt... different. Wrong. She felt older than she had in the last two years.

"She died a few years ago," Sky replied with a sad smile. That cat had been her friend for nearly ten years; waking up to find Selena apparently sleeping in the living room, and discovering that she had peacefully passed in the night had pushed Skylee into spending a week in bed, mourning. Ridiculous to spend that long grieving over a cat, really, but at the same time it felt wrong to wake up and not have the sound of loud purring in her ear.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"She was a good cat."

-[-]-

Noise filled the air as the thousand-something students filed into the Great Hall. Harry hadn't said a word since they left the train and piled into the carriages, though he had given the horseless structures a calculating glance as they approached. Skylee tried not to look at the Threstrals, not wanting to explain what they were and _how _they could be seen.

As the Golden Trio entered the Hall, Skylee hung back and waved them on. She knew where to find them, and she had seen somebody rather interesting lurking in a corner. Never in a million years would she have thought she'd willingly seek out Severus Snape for conversation, but since the death of Lily and James the hostility between them had lessened somewhat. Perhaps it was an understanding of being alone, or merely Dumbledore's insistence, that had given them the semblance of civility they upheld.

But, as she appeared to be a student, he was free to torment and oppress her as much as he did Harry. Still, he was the only person who could approach her with messages from Dumbledore without raising suspicion- and suspicion was what they wanted to eliminate.

"Tomorrow night at six, the usual place. Be there and do not be late," Severus muttered as he drew alongside her, both pretending to be thrown together by the crushing crowd at the doors. Skylee nodded imperceptibly and risked a look at his thundercloud face.

"Did you see who's teaching Defence?" she asked timidly, knowing very well how much he desired that job more than any other. At the same time, she understood Dumbledore's reluctance to hand it to him. After all, Severus had been seduced by the Dark Arts once before- why give him that temptation day after day?

A nerve in his jaw twitched and his body stiffened beside her. "Yes," he hissed bitterly, eyes betraying that he was more than just hurt by the placement of Remus as a teacher. "What is the old fool thinking? Lupin is Black's best friend and Black's bound to try to get in here-"

"And nobody knows Black like Remus and I do. Dumbledore trusts Remus."

"He trusted Quirrell, too, and look what happened there!" Severus' voice was just a little louder than necessary and he drew the attention of the students nearest to them. Skylee gave them a panicked stare that could have passed for a 'help me' before they scuttled off into the Hall.

"Dumbledore may be old but he is no fool. He's brought Remus to the castle for a reason and we have to believe he knows what he's doing. Faith, Severus, have faith," she whispered. He sneered at her and shook his head, wordlessly hissing in fury. "I'll see you in class, Professor!" Skylee announced a little louder, smirking at Severus when he glared after her, all rage and fire and brimstone. He flounced away, parting the crowd as he stormed into the Great Hall and up to the faculty table.

She might have promised Dumbledore that she'd _try _to tolerate him... but damn, it still felt good to piss Snivellus off. Grinning widely, Skylee followed the stragglers in and slid into her seat beside Ron, who was staring at his plate as if he wished the Sorting and the Headmaster's speech were over so they could eat. Skylee's stomach rumbled uncomfortably and suddenly, she too wished the food would arrive.

"Where were you?" Harry asked curiously, breaking his conversation to question Skylee with an eyebrow raised. It was amusing that he thought of her as _one of the gang, _and he protected and treated her as anybody else in the House.

"Snogging Snape in a broom closet," she grinned, winking to the twins who guffawed and were unable to meet her eye. Harry looked faintly ill, Hermione couldn't suppress a shuddering giggle and Ron appeared to have not heard her. It wasn't a big deal, but the fact that the Potions' Master was shooting murderous looks her way as Fred and George circulated the rumour didn't do much for his innocent status.

"Please tell me you're making that up," Harry begged, his words eerily reminiscent of something Sky had said to Dumbledore before the beginning of term. She grinned in response and gave Severus an over-exaggerated wink, to which he scowled deeply and the look in his eyes was one of utter hatred. Clearly, old wounds ran deep and the fact that she was embarrassing him in front of Potter wasn't welcome... not that Skylee had expected it to be, but the things Severus had said about James to Harry were just unacceptable.

"Of course I am. You honestly think I'd snog something like that? Ever?"

"I'd hex you if you did," Ron looked up from his plate finally, giving Skylee the protective look he usually reserved for Ginny. It made the dark-haired girl giggle and lean back in her chair, unable to stop herself from throwing her head back and watching the swirling clouds on the ceiling above. This particular spell was one she had longed to learn for years but never got around to; how she wished she'd used it on her tiny flat for just a little more 'homey' feel.

She felt his gaze on her face and almost turned to smile at him as she had so many times in their youth. Always was a pretty strong thing to say, but she _always _knew when he was in the room, when he was looking at her and when he wanted her to look at him. Before now, Skylee had been a slave to Remus' unconscious call and it hurt more than she was willing to admit to ignore him. Looking at him would only lead to questions, pain and more questions she wasn't willing to answer.

Skylee remained staring blankly at the enchanted sky while conversation rolled over her, until she vaguely registered the dulling of the voices around her and heard the Headmaster clearing his throat from his place at the very centre of Hogwarts' Faculty Table. Definitely the centre of attention and the heart of Hogwarts; Skylee took a moment to notice that Severus was on the edge of the table, alone and cold, while Remus was between Poppy and Pomona, all three engaged in a quiet conversation.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. It is pleasing to see so many smiling faces, new and old. We are happy to announce that our Defence job has been filled by Professor Remus Lupin," Dumbledore's voice left no more room for idle thoughts as he gestured to Remus, who stood and took a bow. There was scattered applause by a few other than Harry and friends, especially Skylee who couldn't help but whistle and duck when he looked her way. He still didn't know the truth, but she sure enjoyed playing with his head.

"Thank you, everyone. Now, as you are aware... the escape of Sirius Black over the summer has been a cause for alarm within our community. I am more than willing to say that Hogwarts remains the safest place on earth- however, the Ministry have decided that they must take further steps to ensure the safety of our students. The Dementors on the train are not the only ones you will come into contact with this year-" at this, Skylee shuddered and gave a low groan- "as Minister Fudge has stationed them at the edge of Hogwarts grounds," Dumbledore looked at everybody solemnly, knowing that this was dangerous for everyone.

"If Black's got by the Dementors once, who's to say he can't do it again?" somebody in Ravenclaw shouted, and Skylee rounded on the fifth-year with a furious glare as Harry gave a tiny squeak and shuddered.

"He wouldn't dare! Black's a coward just like his master- they won't dare touch the castle while we have Dumbledore!" she shouted, raising her empty goblet to the Headmaster who inclined his head at her.

"Thank you for your loyalty, Miss Tabanca. Your mother had that quality, too-" Skylee tuned Dumbledore's praise out in favour of watching the blood drain from Remus' face at the sound of her name. His blue eyes were wide with shock and fear, he was staring directly at her... Sky felt her cheeks heat up and she ducked her head to hide the blush.

"You alright?" Harry whispered, concern etched into his features. Skylee could only nod around the lump in her throat; she wanted to go to Remus, to tell him the truth and apologise for not saying goodbye all those years ago. She wanted the years apart to disappear so she could be twenty again and maybe have a second go at spotting Sirius' deception, saving Lily and James... either way, someone would still get hurt and the Marauders would still be torn apart.

Finally, the Sorting began and finished, and Dumbledore raised his hands to summon the food which appeared on the table before them. Ron dug in with a grateful whisper, piling his plate a mile high and looking at it with an expression of awe on his face. Like a worshipper to an idol, Ron touched the first slice of heavenly pizza with a tender hand and a soft smile.

"You, Ronald, ought to be ashamed of yourself," Hermione sniffed, gathering a modest amount of food for herself and watching her redheaded best friend stuff himself silly. Rolling his eyes, Harry shoved a whole slice into his mouth and Skylee made a face at him.

"So... what did everyone do this summer?" Ron asked through his food, which really made his words sound more like "sh whashid effyone do thish shummer?"

"I went to Italy with my parents," Hermione answered first, smiling at the memories in her head. "Rome was utterly romantic and don't get me started on the Vatican. All that history in one place! All those _books! _I could have spent hours-"

"Yeah, yeah, blah blah rhubarb," Ron interrupted, turning to Harry and Skylee for a more... adventurous story. Harry gave Ron a tiny little smirk and gestured for Sky to speak first, but she just leaned back in her chair and nibbled on her food- thinking quietly that she _must _ask Hermione about Italy, just because Ron had no manners.

"I blew up my aunt," Harry said finally. Hermione spat a little of her pumpkin juice back into the goblet, Ron threw his food into the air and the eavesdropping twins hollered with delight. "She was insulting my parents-" Skylee shook her hair forward and scowled into it- "and I lost control-"

"Harry, you really shouldn't! It's amazing you're not expelled!" Hermione gasped, covering her mouth. Giving her a reproachful, 'I-knew-that-you-moron' look, Harry rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I thought they were going to take me to Azkaban."

Skylee snorted. "They're not going to lock up a thirteen year old for _that. _If you'd actually killed her, maybe, but not for making her float halfway to Devon and back... was bloody hilarious, though, the look on her face when we finally pulled her down."

"What did she say?" Ron asked eagerly, knowing it would _have _to be bloody funny or Skylee wouldn't be snickering as much as she was. Hermione still looked faintly disapproving and was casting looks around them to make sure Skylee's carefree discussion and those dangerous hints weren't overheard. Harry looked slightly nervous to hear the answer, but at the same time he still felt proud for defending himself.

"'Do you know who I am? I'm Margery Dursley! I own fifty dogs and I'm pathetically small-minded and think the world revolves around _me! _Which, if I have another sherry- _fill it up, Vernon, that's it- _it just might because I'm getting quite round around the middle!'" Skylee mocked quite accurately, making Harry roar with laughter and Ron pound his goblet against the table. Hermione managed a slight giggle before resuming her over-careful watching.

"Ri-Ripper ate her sh-shoes!" Harry choked out around his laughter.

"That poor dog!" Hermione gasped, joining in on the fun at last. The sombre mood was lifted for a while at least, the four of them laughing so hard it hurt and they spilled more pumpkin juice then they actually managed to drink.

And just like that, the happiness was ruined.

"Oi, Pothead!" Malfoy's sneering voice called, commanding Harry's attention no matter how much Hermione begged him otherwise. Skylee grabbed the Boy-Who-Lived around the wrist, impeding the use of his wand as the four turned as one to confront the Slytherin.

"What do you want?" Ron snapped. With a gloating sneer, Malfoy gave a lazy grin and twirled his wand about his fingers like he'd been doing it all his life. The apple never falls far from the tree, and this rat-faced platinum blonde snob was a living replica of his slippery father.

"I want to know if it's true," Malfoy started casually, smirking at Crabbe- who sniggered- and Goyle- who was busy still eating and trying to keep up. Skylee felt her blood rush to her head and if Dumbledore wasn't sitting _right there _and if she was truly a thirteen-year-old, she'd hex the boy herself just for looking and acting like Lucius Malfoy.

"If what's true?" she ground out between clenched teeth, hoping Neville and Ginny hadn't spread what happened in their compartment during the Dementor's attack. It was bad enough that Harry- though he was trying to hide it- was still brooding, if Malfoy knew and started taunting, it wouldn't end well for either of them.

"Did you _really _faint, Potter? Like, fall to the ground crying for your dear dead mummy?"

Skylee had to grab Harry by the shoulders and yank him down, forcing him to remain seated as she whirled on Draco Malfoy. "Get out!" she snarled, pointing at the doors. He just stared at her blankly, until her wand was drawn. Using magic on him would make the teachers react, but Skylee didn't much care for staying out of trouble.

"What makes you think I'd go anywhere with you? You're of dirty blood-"

"You wouldn't know the meaning of dirty blood Draco Malfoy; you're too busy hiding behind your father's name! At least he _earned _the right to call himself a Malfoy!" Skylee knew the jab would infuriate the Slytherin, and she was right. Ron gave a low whistle of surprise at her side, Harry muffled a half-bitter chuckle and Hermione reached for Sky's trembling hand with a whispered plea to not fight. Draco stood, his wand in his hand and a glint in his eyes that told anyone watching that he wasn't afraid- he was terrified, but he was livid too.

He looked directly at Harry as he spoke; "At least my mother didn't die on her knees like the Mudblood she was!"

"DON'T YOU TALK-"

"MALFOY, TABANCA! ENOUGH!" Minerva and Severus descended upon the warring students as Malfoy raised his wand to curse Skylee. She wouldn't have been able to retaliate, the boy is a child and she's a grown woman- in a child's body, but still a grown woman- but Merlin, Skylee would give anything for the opportunity to show the boy what she could do with a wand.

"My office, both of you!" Minerva snapped, pointing one finger at the door. Malfoy looked to Severus, who merely took hold of his collar and dragged him from the hall. Skylee didn't need to be told twice; she stabbed her wand back into her pocket, hearing something rip, and stormed from the Hall without looking back. Minerva caught up just outside the doors and stopped the disguised younger witch from following the Slytherins up the stairs.

"What on Earth are you doing? You are a grown woman, Skylee, and I know you hate Lucius but must you take it out on his son?" It was the disappointment in the tone that hurt more than if the Head of Gryffindor would have shouted. True, Skylee loathed Lucius Malfoy more than any other Death Eater and just because Draco shared a name...

"I have no excuse befitting of my age to offer. Only that, could you sit idly by and listen to Harry called a coward? Could you hear Lily referred to as a- _you know what- _by someone who's tongue is as silver as the stripes on their uniform? Would you do nothing as the boy you are sworn to protect is told he's nothing, unworthy of the wand that binds him so thoroughly to our world?"

Minerva looked convinced, but still irritated and she gave a tired sigh. "Words were always your strong point-"

"It's the Black blood in me," Skylee smirked, to no reaction other than an eye roll.

"- and even at school you were a hot-headed little firecracker. One word from Severus could set you off, and I saw what you did to Bellatrix when she attacked Remus. But back then, _you _were a child and I made allowances for that. Now, though you bear the face of one, you are no longer a girl of thirteen, Skylee. I cannot allow you to pick fights with students- no matter what they say to rile you up. Harry must fight his own battles-"

"I won't stand for the Potter name being smeared, Minerva, I don't care who's doing it. I won't allow it to happen in my earshot," Skylee muttered, interrupting the deputy headmistress in her quiet tirade. "I wouldn't have hurt him physically or magically anyway. I'm not that thick."

"Just... try to keep yourself under control, alright? And if Mr Malfoy makes another slight against you or your kin, I understand that you must keep up pretences as a student and no student would do nothing after being insulted. Try to see things from our perspective; if you injured Malfoy and word got out about _you, _where would you go?"

"Azkaban," Skylee replied bitterly. She knew the consequences of hurting a Malfoy Prince; she would never touch a child anyway- _ever_. "Can I use a Silencing Charm? It's painless for both parties."

Minerva allowed herself a smile at the solution, though she knew that the words would do nothing to stop Skylee Tabanca from doing what she wanted to. Two common traits shared among anyone with Black blood; stubbornness and loyalty to those considered family. With a nod, Minerva escorted the imposter-student up to the Transfiguration Office, where the Gryffindor colours hung proud and bright. Severus and Malfoy were already there, the latter sneering at Skylee when she entered. She ignored him and took a seat daintily beside him.

"Fighting in the school is unacceptable in any way, shape or form, but you both know that," Severus began, hissing between his teeth to disguise his indifference as anger. He cared enough to want to know that his student was out of harm's way and the closest thing he had to a friend these last ten years wasn't about to be thrown in jail, but other than that... Severus wanted a bottle of Firewhiskey and a good book for the evening.

"Tabanca started it," Malfoy said pertinently, throwing his nose into the air and glaring through icy eyes as Skylee snorted but stayed quiet.

"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it now. Malfoy, you keep quiet about rumours not concerning you. Miss Tabanca, keep your wand in your pocket and your brain between your ears," Minerva said sternly, hard gaze switching between the students periodically. Skylee couldn't return the gaze for fear of laughter; nothing about this was funny, but the look on Malfoy's face at being punished was amusing.

"Fifteen points from each of you. Malfoy, return now to the Feast," Severus hissed, a wave of his hand opening the door for Malfoy to scuttle through. Skylee considered calling a threat after him but decided against it as the door slammed shut once more. She abruptly felt like a disobedient child facing her parents, the stern mother and furious father, both of whom were looking at her.

"What are you going to do about Remus?"

Skylee had been dreading the question because truthfully, she had no idea. Severus' boredom was genuine this time and he scowled at the wall as Skylee chewed the inside of her lip and focussed on the inkpot sitting on Minerva's desk. Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet those of the Head of Gryffindor House, and shrugged.

"I don't want to keep this from him but..." Skylee threw her hands up helplessly, completely at a loss as to what to do. She met Minerva's sympathetic stare and Severus' harsh one, and knew without a doubt which advice would be better to listen to.

"He'll be at the meeting tomorrow. Tell him then," Severus snarled, sweeping out of the room and slamming the door behind him. He had always been prone to fits of childish temper, but that was uncalled for and left Skylee confused. Why would having Remus back in Skylee's life irritate the Potions' Master so much? Fair enough, they hated each other, but couldn't Severus be happy that his almost-friend had a chance to be happy?

As the thought crossed her mind, Skylee knew why Severus was angry and she felt the guilt ripping through her heart. Severus wouldn't get that chance again; not now that Lily was gone and the only other girl to ever look at him _that way _had disappeared many years ago. Alyssa Jane was a mystery to everybody, why she never took to Sirius when he clearly had an interest in her, why she chose Severus and why he accepted her affections. Either way, she was his redemption and then she just... left. Where, nobody knew. Why... people talked, but only Severus knew the truth and Skylee didn't want to know.

"Dinner is about to end. I suggest you join your classmates and have a pleasant sleep, Skylee. Do try not to start any more fights, will you?" Minerva dismissed the younger witch with a wave of her hand and Sky tried hard not to feel disgruntled at the insinuation that _she'd _started the fight. Malfoy was to blame, mouthing off about Lily like that. Even if the boy didn't know how deep a chord he was striking, he knew he was hitting a nerve and that was enough for him.

The miserable little prick.

"Thank you, Minerva," Skylee said quietly instead, taking her leave before anything further could be said. The hallway was clear, and the students only just starting to file out of the hall, and for a moment Skylee considered going after Severus and knocking some sense into his thick head. Alyssa might have left, but that didn't mean that _everybody _had to suffer for it.

Fortunately, Harry crept into the hall and grinned when he saw her, dragging Ron and Hermione behind him. "What happened? Malfoy looks pissed and we lost points- are you in detention? What did Snape say? Would you really have hexed him?"

Skylee raised an eyebrow and slung an arm around the boy's shoulders, having to stand on tiptoe as she did. "If you take a second to breathe, I'll tell you. We both lost fifteen points and Snape's bloody livid at me- no, Harry, I wouldn't have hexed him. Not obviously at least," she grinned, ruffling his hair and turning to let Hermione catch up. Skylee wanted to hear about those Italian books, after all.

Turning around was probably a bigger mistake then threatening Malfoy was. Remus stood by the Great Hall's doors, the light spilling onto the side of his face and glinting off the greys in his hair. There was a shimmer of moisture in his hazel eyes that Skylee could sense more than see, and the way he kept his hands smoothed against his thighs told her just how hard he was struggling with himself. She gave a tiny shudder at the sight of his pain, closed her eyes and turned away.


	4. You Have Been Missed

**You Have Been Missed**

Harry was in remarkably good spirits that night as he and the rest of the boys in his dorm headed upstairs with a bunch of sweets smuggled in by Fred and George. Ron hesitated at the stairs to shoot a poisonous look at the hissing Crookshanks and hide Scabbers deeper in his pockets.

"Hermione-"

"He'll be with me tonight Ronald. You needn't worry," Hermione snapped crisply, facing the fire with her eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. If looks could kill and the bushy-haired witch was looking at Ron, the poor boy would surely keel over at the intensity of her gaze. Skylee hesitated at the foot of the stairs; as tired as she was, she didn't want to leave Hermione alone to brood. With a sigh, Skylee waved a goodnight to Harry and slowly made her way to slump beside Hermione.

"Long day, yeah?"

The younger witch snorted and shot a glare at the stairs, cuddling Crookshanks closer as the cat began to purr and struggle to follow Ron and Scabbers. "Too long if you ask me. Why did the Sorting go _forever _tonight?"

"Because you had no connection to anyone in it," Skylee replied promptly, her tone that of someone who had been there, done that and kept the t-shirt in her bedroom. _More appropriately, stashed under the bed. _Hermione shrugged and sniffled a little, staring at the fire determinedly.

"Did you see how he brushed me off at dinner? He asked about my summer but was only interested in you and Harry. Will he ever see me as more than just the annoying know-it-all he saved from a troll?"

Skylee stopped short and chewed her bottom lip, mulling the thought over in her head. James had called her "bludger-brain" for a full year before he bothered to learn her real name- even then; he stuck to "bludger-brain" because by then, it suited the slightly unbalanced Skylee as much as it suited her crazy cousins.

"At least he calls you "Hermione" most the time. My best friend didn't call me Skylee until I bashed him over the head with the wrong end of a blast-ended Skrewt," she replied with a cocky grin that lit up her grey eyes. She tossed back her head to shake her hair away from her eyes and curled herself up against the corner of the couch.

"I can't imagine you being violent in the slightest," Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as Skylee giggled lightly and shook her head in fake heartbreak, pressing a hand to her chest with an innocent gasp.

"Me, violent? Never, my dear! I would rather use words than fists-"

"If those words are incantations to nasty jinxes." Hermione gave a wry grin despite herself and Skylee stopped short, a wicked idea forming in her head. The girl had a point... Lily, Marlene, Alice and Skylee had made a little notebook of all the hexes, jinxes and curses the girls ever used against the Marauders, and it was still in existence somewhere... probably still stashed in the library as they'd all forgotten to retrieve it.

Still, the "How to Get Rid Of James Potter & Co Handbook" would be a useful tool to any teenage girl with a problematic best friend who was intent on winning the heart of her _other _best friend, who really didn't want to play nice because the first best friend was, well, a total tosser sometimes.

"Remind me to give that to you," Skylee murmured, smiling and hoping the book hadn't been pinched over the years. Hermione raised a delicately plucked eyebrow quizzically, earning a shrug and a yawn as a response.

"What? It's not my birthday yet."

"I'm aware; Ron doesn't let me forget it, keeps bugging me to run over to Diagon Alley... as if it's easy as cake," Skylee muttered, stretching and debating whether to just fall asleep on the couch instead of making the trek up to the dorm and to the bed. Hermione looked half inclined as well as she relaxed against the side and gave a tiny grin.

"Go ask Snape on a date," she teased, causing Skylee to gag theatrically and shake her head in earnest. The last time she and Severus Snape had been drinking together, she burnt his house down because he was- is- an _insufferable _arsehole who really should learn to shut his beak. Not the best ending to a rather ill-fated evening.

She snorted and shrugged. "Oh yeah, I'll ask him on a date when you start rallying to enslave unicorns." Hermione gave an insulted gasp and Skylee rolled her eyes, laughing with the girl as they began to giggle. It drew the attention of the nearby Percy, who stood from whatever he was writing to approach them.

"Off to bed with you two. You've classes in the morning and I doubt you'll be in any shape to learn if you stay up all night," he scolded, wagging a finger at the snorting girls who couldn't quite reign in their amusement. Neither knew what was so funny, but the laughter was contagious and even Percy hid a smile as Skylee followed Hermione up the stairs.

"Night Weasley," she called as she disappeared.

"You can call me Percy, you know!"

-[-]-

Skylee's eyes cracked open with the dawn, noting with a hint of annoyance that Hermione was already up and studying a golden chain around her neck. A little pink tongue stuck out from between her lips and the concentration made her eyebrows draw over her eyes... Skylee gave an over-exaggerated yawn and stretched, noticing again that the necklace was stashed out of sight quickly.

McGonagall had kidnapped Hermione after the Feast the night before, after returning Sky to her younger friends. And the girl definitely hadn't been wearing a necklace on the train, not a noticeable one at least. _She wasn't wearing her high-necked robes yesterday, Skylee. There was no necklace._

Raising her eyebrows but deciding to say nothing, Skylee rolled out of bed and grabbed her robes from the day before, trudging to the bathroom with her eyes half crusted shut. She considered rubbing them, but then the grit would go into her eyes and scratch painfully, so she settled for shoving her face in a cold basin of water. Skylee Tabanca was _not _a morning person.

"Breakfast hasn't started yet, so you've got no reason to hurry with the bathroom," Lavender Brown called sleepily from her bed, shoving her head back under her pillow. Skylee pulled her face from the freezing water and gave a high-pitched whoop of energy. That was all she had time for as she slipped her nightshirt off- _Remus'. It's got his name on it- _and slid her robes on over the white silk bra, white button-up uniform shirt and the grey skirt she hadn't worn since she was actually twelve.

Why did she keep it again?

"_Would you hurry up? They'll be out of chocolate by time you're done-"_

"_Remus, darling, they breed chocolate. They won't run out," Skylee interrupted her best friend, petting his shoulder as she skipped across to Lily and held up a choice between two almost identical skirts. One was pleated, the other plain, both in the dull grey of Hogwarts. After James' rather... adventurous attempt at livening the mood at dinner, Skylee's previous skirt had become a strip of rainbow fabric she now used as a headband._

"_But it's Honeydukes! I can taste it already, the lovely chocolate!" Remus wailed, falling into a booth at Sally's Dress Shop where the two girls were shopping. Lily stuck out her tongue and waved at Severus as he passed by the window with Avery and Mulciber in tow; all three sneering and snarling at everyone in sight._

"_Calm down, Lupin, you'll hurt yourself," Lily giggled, pressing first one skirt and then another against Skylee's body, finally settling on a short version of the plain one._

"_It's too short, Lil. I'd look like a cheap version of Sirius' dream girl," Skylee wailed, throwing the skirt to the ground. Remus looked at her finally, eyebrows drawn in concentration. He stood and crossed the room in three strides, holding Skylee still as he grabbed the pleated skirt and held it against her legs._

"_Cut just above the knee and it's perfect," he breathed into her ear. Lily froze with her mouth hung open, staring at the two as Skylee looked down at Remus' hands on her hips, his breath in her ear and her skin tingling lightly under his touch._

"_O-okay," Skylee whispered. She brought the skirt without a second thought._

Oh... right. Grinning like an idiot, Skylee twirled back into the dormitory and smiled at a sleepy Hermione. "See you down there, right?"

Bright eyed and bushy haired, Hermione nodded and Skylee continued down to the Common Room, leaving the Trio behind as she headed firstly for the dungeons. It was far too early for anyone but the crazy or the insomniac to be awake, and by such logic, Skylee knew Severus would be awake.

He was the last person she thought she'd go to for advice, but since the death of Lily and James... the shared loneliness and Dumbledore's insistence had given them a measure of civility. And during this mission, he was the most likely choice to hand out messages in the form of marked work or unfair detentions. He accepted his position because, well, he had a free license to make her clean cauldrons at his will. She detested being under his control, still hated the dungeons and the man himself, but he was good at knocking some frankly-worded sense into someone's brain.

She took a short-cut behind a century-old bust of Merlin, which lead her through a very narrow gap skirting the Slytherin Common Room and ended behind a bookcase in Snape's study. She felt very proud and protective of _this _particular secret passage, as she had been the one to discover it in her fourth year. Sirius and Skylee had been raiding Slughorn's supply of elf-made wine- taking the bottles he'd never miss after the Christmas Party- when someone had knocked on the door. Panicking and stuck between the midnight guest and the teacher, they'd tried to climb on top of the bookcases and hide.

Skylee had prised a bookcase forward, found the little narrow gap and pushed Sirius in before her. Both of them followed it, not caring where it went, and emerged safely at Merlin's bust. Grinning like hatters, they both sprinted with a bottle of wine each and drank the lot between them on the Astronomy Tower. They woke sometime the next day with gritty eyes and a flaming headache that James liked to irritate by singing _The Song That Never Ends _at the top of his lungs whenever they were near.

Now, though, she used it to bypass the nosy Slytherin students and burst in on Snape whenever she felt like it. He hated it but as she kept the passage a secret, couldn't do anything about it but fume whenever she knocked on the door to his inner sanctum. And, as always, she heard the muffled thud of a book dropping the floor, the clink of glasses and finally the clicking of his locks as he permitted her access.

"Morning, Severus," she chirped, enjoying the look of frustration as she danced her way to take the cup of Firewhiskey from his hand. He clenched his fists and jaw and gave her a glare of barely masked loathing.

"What do you want, infernal woman?"

Skylee raised a bushy eyebrow at his words and giggled smugly. Barely three seconds and she'd already irritated him; good. "To see how my _favourite _Potions Professor is on this fine sunny day," she laughed lightly, knowing it grated on his nerves, and leaned casually against the wall. "Seriously... I wanted to ask... are you brewing the potion, or am I?"

Severus gave a very tiny groan and glared at the empty fireplace. "Of course. The man doesn't even know you're alive and your top priority is _still _the monster," he snarled, his voice low and gravelly. Skylee didn't take offence to it as she rolled her eyes.

"He'll always be my top priority. He and I are the only ones left," she said softly, picking at threads of her sleeve.

"What am I, a gargoyle on the roof?"

"You keep pulling that face and someone will mistake you for one." Snape's deep scowl slipped for a moment before returning full-force and then some. Skylee kept gazing at him calmly until he let out a tiny, misplaced snort of muffled laughter. The bitterness was lessened for a moment until the mask came down again and he looked disgusted with himself for finding amusement in the presence of a Gryffindor.

"Don't you have someone else to bother to tears?" he asked wearily. Skylee scoffed at him and stood upright, charming the bottle of Firewhiskey closed and levitating it permanently onto the shelf. He glared at her as she slipped to the door and turned to grin at him.

"It's a bit early in term to start crying in my presence, don't you think?" she grinned at him and shut the door, giggling as a hex thudded against it, obviously meant for her but from the casual smirk she'd seen on his lips, it wasn't anything nasty or hurtful. Before he could follow her, she slid behind the bookcase and shut it behind her before rushing along the thin gap.

Skylee remained hidden until the corridor leading up to the Great Hall was empty, before she dashed up to join the throng as another face in the crowd. She caught sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione coming down the stairs and darted across to join them, silently shaking her head against their unasked questions.

"I'm actually looking forward to Defence, for once," Harry said instead, staring at Skylee until she looked away. They knew that she often disappeared for hours, and if she did disappear it was usually because Dumbledore was allowing her to return to her flat for whatever reason. Little errands for the headmaster- because it was easier to sent a white wolf Animagus, sometimes, than go himself.

"Me too. Reckon Lupin's gonna teach us or preen?" Ron asked, ignoring Hermione's slight bristling at the slight against Lockhart.

"Remus Lupin is an excellent teacher," Skylee said softly, for once careful that the words were audible to the Trio and the Trio alone. They each gave her a look of varying curiosity and she knew she'd have to make an excuse for knowing Remus already.

"And you know this how?" Hermione asked. Skylee smiled ruefully and shrugged, sliding into the Great Hall between two older Hufflepuffs and taking her seat between Ginny and Fred, safeguarding her from any other questions. Harry didn't look convinced in the slightest as he piled food onto his plate and Ron was already inhaling a piece of toast.

"You didn't see Lupin on the train," Skylee said to Harry quietly, "he scared off the Dementor when I... couldn't," she finished lamely, still furious with herself for not being able to produce a Patronus while under pressure. She used to be able to summon a gleaming, fierce wolf with ice-blue eyes... now, she could barely bring a white mist._ Where are all my happy memories?_

"How do you fight them off?" Harry asked eagerly and Skylee winced inwardly. "I want- _need- _to know how to do it!"

Sighing, Sky pointed up at the staff table to Remus, who was looking rather pale this morning. The moon had been three days earlier; it was amazing to see him up and out of bed, really. He should still be in bed, the moron. Fair enough he wanted to prove himself as a reliable teacher but wearing himself out this early in term wasn't good for him or the kids.

"Alright," Harry said determinedly. "I'll ask him." Nodding and smiling, Skylee stomached a couple pieces of toast quickly and stuck her wand into the air for her timetable. Hermione was already studying hers, which when compared to Skylee's half-page of paper, was huge. Almost twice the size... suspicious, really, if you coupled it with a disappearing necklace.

"What you got first, Hermione?" Skylee asked, chewing idly on a toothpick. The younger girl looked up and seemed to be adding something up inside her brilliant mind... "Stop pulling faces at me, kiddo. You'll hurt yourself."

"Arithmancy," Hermione said finally, affronted at Skylee's cheeky wink and grin. The dark-haired witch downed her pumpkin juice and shot a look up at the four hourglasses, content to know that Slytherin and Gryffindor were still on even ground... until Quidditch started, of course.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked the slowly departing Skylee, who cocked her head at him.

"Do I have books in my hands?" she asked, grinning at him snidely. "No? Well, it'd be safe to assume I'm going to get them, wouldn't it?"

The green eyes narrowed in suspicion and Harry chuckled at her sarcastic tone. "No wonder they call you Sarcastic Spastic Skylee!"

"Actually, Potter," Sky paused at the doors to the Great Hall, giving a bow and not giving a damn about everyone who was looking her way with varying degrees of exasperation. Severus and Minerva shared a look of long-suffering pity toward each other while Dumbledore looked at Remus... who was paler than ever and determinedly staring at any other point in the Hall aside from Skylee. She felt her heart flutter as she grinned and took a breath; "They used to call me _Seriously Insane!" _The inside joke was something only Remus would pick up on- and she was right.

His head shot up so he could stare at her as she took a bow to the minor audience and danced into the corridors, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't have gotten closer to admitting her true identity if she had stood on a table and started shouting it to the rooftops. Which wasn't a bad idea, really... Skylee shook her head as she summoned her books and rushed to the library, intent on seeking out the "How to Get Rid of James Potter & Co Handbook" from whatever crevasse it was hidden in this year.

She skipped through the halls, unaware of the set of footsteps echoing hers. Echoes in Hogwarts were commonplace, really, but for an ex-Auror they should have raised a certain amount of suspicion. She entered the library with a customary glance at Madam Pince's desk, and upon finding it empty, Skylee relaxed.

"Now, where did you put the book Evans?" she asked no-one in particular, heading for the Charms section because Lily had it last so she could write her last bit of advice in it; _if you find all of this has failed, I suggest you marry the boy. Especially if he tells you the only reason he didn't give up is because he knew you'd be amazing because amazing girls are never easy._

"Cheering Charms... no, that wasn't her thing... Defensive Charms, no... _aha!" _Skylee pulled a ridiculously thick volume of _Advanced Useless Charms and Why Not To Use Them _from the bottom shelf and coughing as it stirred up a cloud of dust. Nobody ever used the book- which is exactly why they chose it to house the _real _thing.

Skylee heaved the cover open and blinked in surprise; there was a note pinned to the hollowed-out pages, yellow with age but still easily recognisable. _Sorry birds, couldn't resist keeping it with me. Gives me ideas on what _not _to do. S.O.B. _

"Son of a bitch," Skylee muttered angrily, half inclined to smoke the book and the note. Sirius had stolen the book. He had the handbook, the pretencious prick! Why the hell did he need it anyway? All he had to do was _blink _and a bimbo would hang off his arm and practically pay him to screw her. Her fury with Sirius peaked at an all-time high, then plummeted into the same numbness she came to associate with grieving. Bitterly leaving the book lying open on the ground, Skylee began to storm from the library without looking where she was going.

So absorbed was she in glaring at the floor that she didn't notice the body coming the other way until they collided, both bouncing off one another with cries of surprise. Skylee landed on her backside and skidded back about half a metre, looking up with a ready insult on her lips until she saw who she had literally ran into.

"Re- _Professor_... Lupin_," _she whispered, feeling her heart racing at a million miles at the sight of him. Remus gave her a half amused smile and held out his hand to help her up.

"Sorry about knocking you over, Miss Tabanca," he said swiftly. She closed her eyes and avoided looking directly at him; the sound of his voice, unchanged and soft as she remembered had her mind whirling off on tangents she really didn't want to follow.

"No blood, no foul," she quipped, biting the inside of her cheek as the words slipped off her tongue. How many times had she said that after a particularly rough Quidditch game? How many times had she whispered it to him the morning after a full moon? Remus was clearly uneasy as he ran a hand through his caramel hair and his eyes looked anywhere _but _Skylee, a fact she was grateful for as it made hiding the truth so much easier.

"Um... I actually wanted to speak with you, if I could," Remus said hopefully, shifting his weight from left to right as he tilted his head nervously. Skylee gave a tiny jolt and while her heart decided to beat so fast she thought it would explode, her head remained calm and she knew she had to decline. She couldn't lie to Remus Lupin no matter how important it might be.

"Sorry, sir, I've got to get to class," she replied quietly, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly as Remus gave a tiny, disappointed sigh and nodded slowly.

"What's on the agenda?"

Skylee screwed up her face and ducked around Remus to catch her books- the ones she'd summoned earlier but clearly decided to take their sweet time arriving. The heavy Potions textbook nearly thumped her about the head and the Muggle Studies one tried dancing out a window, but she caught them both and held them up with a grin to show Remus, who watched quietly with an ever-growing smile on his face.

"Your mother is Skylee Tabanca... when did she- how did she-"

Shooting him a sympathetic look, Skylee almost reached out to touch him. "Go to the meeting tonight, Professor. It'll all make sense then." Before he could ask anything further, she ran down the corridor and disappeared around the corner. She barely managed two more steps before the breath in her lungs lost all quality and her heart tried to leap through her ribs; the painful pressure making Skylee give a whispered groan and fall against the wall.

"Tonight is so far away..."

-[-]-

Skylee was lazing on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room with Harry, Ron and Hermione- the latter two were sharing frosty glares as Crookshanks napped between them. It was heading on for ten but the trio didn't look like they were even thinking of bed; neither were the rest of the House. It was disappointing and a little nerve-racking for Skylee, who was sweating slightly and stressing over the approaching meeting and the fact that she couldn't leave unless the Common Room was empty.

"Aren't you tired yet?" she asked of Harry again. He just raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head, grinning slightly as he and Ron started up another game of Wizards' Chess. Hermione was halfway through their new Transfiguration textbook, with the Arithmancy one beside her, and another book on Magical Devices that wasn't from any lesson Skylee had ever heard of.

"It's only nine-forty, Sky. Lights out is at ten and you know none of us actually pay attention to those rules," Ron replied, studying the board and smiling slyly at Harry. "Knight to E4."

"You might want to. We never went to bed much before twelve and your dad fell asleep in Potions at one stage, his head in whatever we were brewing. Turned his skin green for six weeks because Slughorn refused to reverse it," Skylee reasoned with a wink at Harry, who looked delighted at yet another story about his father.

"What'd my mum do?" he asked; eager as always to hear of Lily as well. Skylee tilted her head to the side to think, sticking her tongue out between her lips and furrowing her brow.

"Lily... oh, she gave him warts because he asked for a pity snog; we all called him Ephalba until the green faded." Harry gave a snort of laughter and Ron stared at Harry, clearly imagining his best mate all warty and green. Hermione even giggled a little and winked at Skylee, who was waiting for the expected next question- _who's Ephalba?_

"Hey..." Ron looked puzzled and Hermione sighed, expecting a moronic statement; "Who's Ephalba?"

"Muggle thing," Hermione obliged instantly and Skylee looked at her, faintly and pleasantly surprised.

"You know Wicked?"

"'Course. Mum had a mild fit when she heard I was a witch- thought I was going to turn green, have warts and fly around on a broomstick cackling at everyone named Dorothy." Both girls burst into giggles, much to the boys' chagrin as they shared confused looks and rolled their eyes.

"Is is just me, mate, or do girls keep getting weirder?" Harry asked under his breath. Ron shrugged his shoulders and, without much effort at all, won the game of Chess and left Harry gaping at him in shock.

"Alright, you four- off to bed with you," Percy bustled over, ushering everybody upstairs with a very self-important expression. Skylee bit her lip to hide a smile and flicked her wand at the fire, stoking it up with a silent spell. Ron and Harry groaned but cleared away the chess, and Hermione grabbed Crookshanks before heading up to the dormitory. Skylee shot a wink at the two boys and hid herself beside the fireplace in a little niche that was a perfect fit.

"Anybody else down here?" Percy called, his wandlight piercing every inch it could as he scoured the Common Room. Skylee didn't shrink away from the light; movement would only attract attention and as a former Auror, it would be an insult to her training if a seventeen-year-old found her. Finally, Percy seemed satisfied and he turned wearily for the stairs. Only when the Tower fell completely silent did Skylee move, slipping quietly and fluidly to the Portrait Hole and opening a crack big enough for her to sidle through.

"Wish I had the Map," she murmured, her voice inaudible over the sounds of her breathing. Even that was too loud but she rushed on anyway; the meeting was due to start at ten and it was already two-minutes-to. Tardiness would only be mocked by Snape and well... Remus was there. Skylee wanted nothing more than to dash directly to the meeting and blurt everything out into the open.

She pushed open the door to the Headquarters of the Former Order, noting with a sigh of disappointment that Remus hadn't arrived yet. She took two steps into the room and met Dumbledore's gaze, and he gestured at her vaguely. Well, to anyone else it was a vague gesture but Skylee knew it instantly.

"_Expecto Patronum," _she muttered, the fine mist she produced taking on the faint shape of a wolf before fading away. Frustrated, she felt the tears in her eyes as she looked to Snape, expecting the scornful comment but receiving only pity. Which, when she thought about it, was just as bad. Snivellus _pitying _Skylee! Thinking back for another memory, something different- _first kiss- _she tried again. "_Expecto Patronum!" _This time, the mist became slightly more solid as the wolf she summoned bounded through the room and out the window.

"I see your Patronus has suffered, Skylee," Dumbledore remarked. Skylee didn't look at him as she crossed the room and sat beside Severus.

"I haven't had much to be happy about for over a decade, Headmaster," she responded bitterly. Feeling a foot on hers, she followed the black-clad leg up to a sallow face and a small, twisted smile she wanted to punch right off his face.

"Me either," Severus whispered, his lips hardly moving. His tone was so quiet that it left no doubt that the words were for her only.

"Ah, Remus! Identify yourself, my boy, and join our gathering!" Skylee's gaze shot up to meet Remus', her heart pounding in her chest as his caramel hair fell into his clear hazel eyes, the lines on his face deepening at the sight of her and his hand rising to brush the hair away.

_I'm Remus Lupin; you want some chocolate?... You're saying it wrong Skylee! It's Riddikulus, not ridiculous... Why did you get all the Potions talent... Wanna go to the dance with me... I think I like you, Skylee... I would very much like to kiss you now... Of course I want to move in with you... We're going to be alright, Sky. I'll be with you for always... Lily and James, they're getting married. D'you think we should too... They're having a baby! A baby, how wonderful... Harry, they named him Harry... Voldemort's hunting them... Sirius, he's Secret Keeper and Godfather... Gone! They're gone! Lily and James and Peter- Sirius betrayed us all! I love you Skylee, but I can't do this anymore... Looking at you reminds me of them and it hurts so bad... I'm sorry, but this is goodbye..._

"_Expecto Patronum," _Remus' voice and the silver wolf he produced tore Skylee out of her mind with a jerk, her hands unconsciously fisted at her side. Severus was looking at her, slightly concerned, and he reached to touch her shoulder but she shook him off. Frustrated didn't even begin to explain how she felt at hearing his voice, a montage of their lives right from the moment they'd met at Hogwarts until the moment he walked out on her a year after Lily and James died. If only she hadn't seen the images in her head, the past taking over her mind so thoroughly she could hardly breathe when she looked at Remus.

She hated him for doing this to her, but she still loved him more than ever.

"Now, I feel I must explain a few things..." Dumbledore's voice echoed in Skylee's head as he explained why she was there and exactly who she was. She was busy staring at Remus, watching his eyes go wide and fill with tears. Watching his hands start to shake and his head bow forward, avoiding her gaze. Seeing how he trembled in his seat, much the way he had when she told him she knew what he was way back in second year. When Dumbledore asked if they'd like a moment, Remus nodded and ran for the door.

Skylee rushed after him, conscious of her chair falling to the floor but uncaring. The door fell shut and she slammed bodily against it, winding herself but uncaring as she pushed it open and ran out after the man she'd waited eleven years to see.

"Remus! Remus, where the hell are you?" she called down the hall, conscious that she was still physically thirteen and that several unaware teachers could get the wrong idea about a girl chasing a professor down the halls.

"Is- is it really you?" His voice croaked and she whirled around, spying him slumped against the wall with his head in his hands. He sounded terrible and when she approached, she found that he looked equally terrible. Skylee fell to her knees and reached for his hands, pulling them away from his face so she could see his red-rimmed eyes and the moisture on his cheeks.

"Hi, Moony," she whispered, voice cracking and eyes welling as he stared at her, unable to speak or- by the looks of his reddening cheeks- breathe properly. He looked like he'd seen a ghost and run forty miles away from it.

"Sk- Skylee."

She nodded and didn't bother with holding back the tears. Remus took a gulping breath and launched himself forward, tackling her to the ground with the force of his hug. Skylee gripped him just as hard, both crying and laughing breathlessly as they struggled to their feet as one, neither wanting to let go.

"I'm sorry I left," he whispered, cupping her face and holding her waist. Skylee shook her head lightly and stepped forward into his arms, hugging him around the middle and resting her head against his collarbone. "Forgive me, Skylee, please forgive me."

She felt her heart rising in her mouth and the lump in her throat was bigger than ever. She didn't know if she was ready to forgive him for leaving her alone or for not finding her sooner. She wasn't sure she was ready to trust and to let him be her everything; the last time she'd put such faith in Remus Lupin, he'd broken her heart and made her a miserable shell for nine years.

"You have been missed, Remus," she said instead, her tone bearing nothing but a ring of truth. She wouldn't spill her heart to him just yet because she wasn't sure her heart was whole enough to spill.


	5. Breaking Down

**Breaking Down**

Skylee entered the Great Hall, rubbing her eyes to remove the tiredness she felt. It didn't quite work and even the appearance of Remus at the staff table- his gaze instantly moving to her form- did nothing to lift her energy levels. Grouchily, she fell into a seat beside Harry and grabbed a plate, filling it with toast, bacon and eggs. Ron raised an eyebrow and Skylee rolled her eyes at him.

"Damn teenage hormones," she muttered, growling slightly at a fourth year who attempted to remove the nearest coffee pot from her radius. "Leave it or lose your arm," Skylee snapped, and quickly the Fourth Year retreated with a look of slight terror. Harry laughed silently and covered his face, leaning away from Skylee to disassociate himself.

"You're a nutcase," he grinned, chuckling under his breath. Ron nodded emphatically, swallowing thickly and fearlessly grabbing the coffee.

"It's just coffee. There's like... another six jugs of the stuff," he said logically, the smug expression he wore indicating how much he was enjoying the look of torment on Skylee's face as she took note of where the other jugs were.

"I saw it first, Weasley," she reached for the coffee and Ron let her have it, clearly knowing better than to attempt keeping Skylee and her favourite beverage apart. "Ah, I've missed you my love... your warmth, your scent, your taste... the feel of you between my hands, in my mouth-"

"Skylee," Harry said through gritted teeth, on the verge of either laughing or crying. Ron looked faintly green as he gave Sky a calculating, disgusted look. She just gazed at the Boy-Who-Lived innocently, sipping her coffee to mask the smirk. "For the love of _Merlin, _do not finish or _ever_ repeat that sentence."

"Harry," she mocked his tone quite well, earning herself a glare and a rolling of the eyes from Ron. "Darling, it took your father sixteen years to convince me not to shout 'I see Potter's underpants' during Quidditch. And even then, I _occasionally _still did it."

"Meaning you took no notice of my poor dad's suffering," Harry snorted and Skylee couldn't hold back a torrent of giggles, slapping her hand on the table and nodding. The caffeine was kicking in and she felt more alert now, luckily, because their first lesson was to be Potions and she wasn't looking forward to facing Snape. Not that she had a reason to be nervous, but where Snape was, Skylee usually _wasn't._

"Of course I did. I started shouting 'potty-mouth' instead."

"You're a nutcase," Ron repeated, to which Sky gave a tiny bow and quirked her lips into a smile. Hermione took that moment to join them, her hair done up in a business-like bun and a satisfied smile on her face. She didn't seem in the least bit tired, which only served to make Skylee feel more tired than before.

"Morning, friends! I'm really looking forward to Defence today. Lupin looks like a really nice person, a good teacher. Though he looks a bit tired- I do hope he's not coming down with anything. I heard Percy talking about the flu going around-"

"Hermione," Ron interrupted wearily, meeting Harry's gaze and biting his lip to ward off laughter. Skylee tried not to look at either of them because with coffee in her system, she would be prone to fits of giggles until lunch time. Luckily, the arrival of the mail gave them all a decent excuse to ignore Hermione's prattling. Harry caught his letter- raising an eyebrow as he recognised Sky's writing.

"I forgot to send it over the summer," she said by way of explanation, shrugging as she caught her collection of three letters. One from Dumbledore with the date for the next Order meeting, one from her accountant reminding her of her very sad financial status and one from an unknown sender who wrote in such a familiar way...

"He's been sighted- Sirius Black!" Seamus shouted as he unfolded his _Prophet. _Skylee jumped violently, fumbling with the letters and shoving them into her pocket as she rose from her seat and snatched the paper away, spreading it out on the table to read the article in full.

"Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer, has reportedly been spotted stealing Muggle clothing from a residence in Dufftown... which is less than twenty-four miles from Hogwarts... oh, shit, giggles and merry wallflowers!" Skylee turned away from the paper, a hand on her head as she looked up at the staff table, catching Dumbledore's eyes. He looked equally concerned and Sky felt her heart sinking. So it was true; Sirius was trying to get to Hogwarts.

"You don't think he'd try the school, do you?" Neville asked from up the table a little bit. Skylee didn't bother trying to reply, the lump in her throat preventing her from breathing properly as her gaze shifted to Severus Snape. He was glaring at her and very obviously shot a look at Remus.

"Not with Dumbledore and the Dementors guarding the gates," Hermione stated matter-of-factly. Skylee gave the group a dark look and grabbed her bag.

"He's got by them more than once in the past. We can't underestimate his conviction to-" she cut herself off, snapping her lips shut and looking upwards to the windows as if praying for strength.

"Conviction to what?" Harry asked sharply. His green eyes bore into the side of Skylee's head and she refused to look at him as she took a deep breath, wringing her hands and messing up her hair. Her cheeks were steadily flushing and she shifted her weight uneasily before shrugging her shoulders and attempting a weak smile, conscious of half the House looking at her.

"Dunno. He's a raving lunatic- maybe he just wants a decent breakfast?" Skylee called as she turned on her heel and rushed from the hall, clenching a fist around the strap of her bag on her chest. If she wasn't holding it tightly, she felt she might collapse. She didn't stop at the door as she reached the Entrance Hall and, knowing that Severus would go spare if she skipped Potions, determinedly made her way out of the front doors and headed for the Quidditch Pitch.

"Bloody Sirius. Bloody _hell. _What am I going to do?" she dumped her bag by the equipment shed, grabbing a Comet 340, the same model she used all through her career as one of Gryffindor's Chasers, and froze as her fingers brushed across a familiar inscription. This was a school broom, and the handle had many etchings of students engraved all over it.

This one, however, had three words she now hated to read. _United we stand. _Seeing the Marauder's motto only served to fuel the anger bubbling under her skin and she tossed the broom to the ground, grabbing another instead and taking to the skies. She flew higher than the trees in the Forest and kept climbing until the air was so thin it was hard to breathe and ice began forming from the tears she hadn't realised she was shedding.

Hovering there, high above the world, Skylee lowered her head onto the broom handle and sobbed in despair. Sirius was coming to Hogwarts, no doubt about it. Sirius was trying to hurt Harry; that much was clear. Skylee was at the school in order to protect Harry, she knew that very well. Skylee would have to kill Sirius if he tried to get Harry... that part, well... that part was a little harder to wrap her head around.

"_I love you, Skylee... You're the only one of my family I can actually stand," Sirius declared, grinning brightly and slumping into a chair. His eyes shone with unshed tears and Sky had to wonder briefly how stoned he actually was. She still didn't know why they'd invited her to James' Stag Night, only that she was a Marauder and had every right to get Prongs as blotto as they could._

"_Suppose you're not counting Andy, Ted and Nymphadora then?" Skylee replied with a grin, shoving her cousin lightly and he landed face-first in her fluffy carpet. This flat was newly purchased and as the only Marauder aside from James to actually own a place of residence, was also the location of James' last pre-marital party._

"_Course not. She'd kill me if she heard it," Sirius shouted, his voice muffled by the carpet. With a kick to his stomach- a gentle one, she assured herself- Sirius yelped and rolled over, grinning like a hatter as he grabbed her ankle and yanked her onto the floor beside him._

"_We talking Andy or Nym?" she asked, giving a loud exhale as she collided with the floor and flipped herself onto her back._

"_Both, I'd wager. Sirius, get your paws off my girlfriend," Remus joined them, taking Skylee's vacated seat and extending a hand to help her away from Sirius. She smiled, stood and, with a cheeky grin at Sirius who was staring at the stripper they'd hired, Skylee straddled Remus' lap and wrapped her arms around his neck._

"_Hmm, I think I like this protectiveness," she murmured, the buzz of the alcohol and Sirius' smoking making her mind just a little fuzzy. Remus really didn't look like he cared as his hand threaded in her hair and he pulled her down for a kiss._

"_Oi! Get your paws off my cousin!" Sirius shouted, sobering up enough to stumble to his feet and lick Remus' cheek. Instantly, the lovers sprung apart to chase him out into the snow, all three landing in a heap in the middle of the road. Sirius flipped himself onto his back and drew Remus and Skylee to frame him, hugging them both as he sighed contentedly._

"_I love you guys. Let's like, grow old together. I'll babysit your babies," Sirius murmured sleepily, his head resting on the street._

"_Like hell you will," Remus muttered, his hand reaching across to grab Skylee's. Their fingers intertwined and in their inebriated state, neither noticed that they were lying in the path of any oncoming cars. Sirius gave a girlish giggle and pulled his two friends closer._

"_Marry the girl, Moony. 'Cause if you get my baby cousin pregnant out of wedlock, I swear to God I'll hunt you down and chop off your penis."_

_Skylee smacked his chest and sat up to wink at Remus. "D'you wanna go inside and fornicate?" She winked again and Remus laughed silently, escaping from Sirius and helping Skylee to her feet as they both made a break for the flat._

"_OI!" Sirius shouted, coming after them and laughing his arse off. Skylee should have known then, should have noticed something wasn't right with him. She should have seen it coming..._

"We were so happy." Present-day Skylee shouted to the winds, wiping the ice from her face and shivering as the cold wind blew sharply through her robes. It cut through her skin right to the bone, feeling like her very soul was being coated in the freezing substance. She felt as though she'd never be warm or happy ever again and then the sound she dreaded rang in her ears.

"_They're gone, Lily and James..."_

Whipping her head around, she caught sight of the dark robed creatures heading her way. And there, in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, a lone man stood watching. She recognised him even from her height, would always recognise him because it was always _him _she saw when near a Dementor.

"_I'll never leave you..."_

"You lied to me, Remus," she murmured, staring down at him and darting forward away from the oncoming Dementors. Why they seemed extra intent on her when she felt so damned rotten was beyond her comprehension; _they smell the Black blood._

"_Family sticks together, through thick and thin. I do so swear to put my life on the line to save yours. I would willingly die for you, cousin o'mine."_

"And you lied worst of all, Sirius. You killed-"

"_James?" Skylee picked up the mirror, seeing his frantic face within. He was shaking so hard it was hard to focus on him and behind his shoulder, Lily held Harry with wide, terrified eyes._

"_Skylee, tell Dumbledore that Sirius-"_

"_He didn't do it!" Lily shouted, cradling Harry as he whimpered with fright at the tone of his mother's voice. "It wasn't Sirius! It was-"_

_There was a loud crash and then the mirror dropped, landing in fragments so Skylee couldn't see properly. She could hear plenty well though, and the sound of their footsteps and sobbing tore at her heartstrings and she wished she knew where they were, to rush to their aide. She couldn't stand not knowing._

"_He's coming Lily! Take Harry and run!" James' voice, strained and tearful, came from just beyond Skylee's range of sight. Sirius looked over at her and at the terrified look in her eyes, he darted out the door. She hardly noticed him leaving, hardly noticed that her flat was empty for the first time in months._

"_I'm not leaving without you-"_

"_Please, please just go! You mean everything to me and I'm not going without a fight!" James begged, his voice thick and desperate. Lily sobbed and baby Harry gave a keening wail as if he had picked up on his parents' stress._

"_JAMES!" Skylee shouted into the mirror, tapping the glass. "LILY, JAMES, PLEASE!" she pleaded, shaking the mirror and suddenly able to see a pair of familiar black shoes and red pumps. They weren't moving, but Lily was clearly trembling and finding it hard to stand on her own._

"_Be safe, my love," Lily's voice whispered. There was the sound of a soft, tearful kiss then Lily's shoes disappeared and James stood alone._

"_Move, boy!" Skylee nearly dropped the mirror at the sound of that voice. That high, cruel voice she'd been hearing in her head and broadcasted over the radio when he took it over. Voldemort... he'd found them, but... Sirius had..._

"_You threaten my son, you threaten me. I will defend him with my last breath," James spat, defiant. Skylee wondered why he didn't raise his wand, why he wasn't trying to run. Surely they would have a safe-house, an escape route?_

"_JAMES! FIGHT BACK-"_

"_Have it your way," Voldemort laughed as the green light made the room's lighting flicker. Skylee heard someone screaming and it took her a minute to realise that terrible, heartbroken sound was coming from her. There was a thud, the lights went out for the longest time and when they finally reignited, all Skylee could see was the cold, pale face of James Potter._

"_No, no! Wake up, wake up! James get _up!" _Skylee shouted, gripping the mirror so hard she feared it might break. If only she knew where they were, she would go help them- there was another scream from somewhere above, then that same frightful laughter and finally... silence._

"_Oh God," Skylee murmured, her eyes full of tears and her heart beating so fast she feared it might break. "Oh GOD!"_

"_Expecto Patronum!" _Remus' voice cut off the memory- if it even was a memory, she wasn't quite sure anymore- sharply, snapping Skylee into the present. She was aware that she was still flying her broomstick, hovering nearly a hundred feet above the ground, and Remus was remarkably hovering beside her. He was clearly uneasy at the height, his face a mild shade of green and a single hand clutching the broom so hard his knuckles were white. With the other, he held his wand and from the tip burst a magnificent white wolf.

"Remus," Skylee breathed, aware that she was crying and wiping the tears away, gripping the broom with her knees as she leaned back enough to remain upright. She couldn't help the fresh flood of tears as they resumed with full force, unable to stem them as she fell forward again, nearly pitching head-first to the ground if he hadn't swooped closer to hold her steady.

"Easy_, _Skylee, it's over now..." he murmured, an arm around her shoulders and the other still gripping the broomstick. She shook her head and took the initiative, lowering and steering them both to the ground so she could throw her arms around his neck.

"It's not over, it'll never be over, he's coming for H-Harry and I'm... I'm supposed to-"

"Hush, I know," Remus whispered into her hair, lifting her just slightly as he held her tightly against his warm body. She squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply, almost tasting the light scent of coffee and chocolate and old parchment that clung to him. It was essentially Remus, a smell that had both haunted and comforted her throughout the years.

"No, you don't," she said flatly, drawing away as her anger fizzed to life once again. "How could you know? I haven't seen you since the week they died. Do you know how hard I've had it alone? I was in Azkaban for three years- _three- _before Dunsany remembered I needed a trial for treason- acquitted, lack of evidence. Everyone hearing my last name makes the connection to _him, _and more often than not I'm out of a job. I lost the flat, I'm broke, I'm living hand-to-mouth. This placement is the only thing that's kept me going the last few years and if _he _manages to get into the castle, it's over."

"And you think it's been shits and giggles for me?" Remus snapped, folding his arms across his chest to bar her return- if she would return. "The jobs I get make it mandatory for me to tell them what I am and you think anybody wants a werewolf in their business? Nobody will take me on as a tenant because I'm dirt poor; hell, even Muggles won't hire me because I look like... well, I look like I've been living in a garbage can. I'm _his _former best friend so don't you dare tell me you've had it rough because I've been there, _I am there."_

Skylee glowered, her bushy brows lowering over her eyes as she turned away and grabbed her broomstick, intent on returning to the one space he wouldn't follow her unless the Dementors returned. She swung her leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground but found she was unable to move. Whirling around, she overbalanced and for one with the self-proclaimed talents of a Quidditch superstar, Skylee landed flat on her arse with a loud curse.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Skylee shouted, gesturing wildly at the broom and then Remus' wand, still held loosely in his hand. With a casual flick of his wrist, he sent the two brooms flying back into the shed and slammed the door, locking it with a wordless charm she would spend years trying to undo.

"We're not done," he stated calmly, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. She paused and took a deep breath, looking up at the swirling clouds and wanting so, so badly to forgive him. But there was something... Skylee would never be able to look Remus in the eye again if she had to kill... _him._

"We were done a long time ago, Remus." Her tone was miserable and she looked abruptly as old as she actually was- as though that simple phrase, that one moment of heartbreaking certainty, had undone all of Dumbledore's disguise spells.

"Well, I'm undoing it," he muttered, grabbing her wrist as she tried to leave. "We've both been so alone for so long. You really want to keep going this way? It broke my heart to lose everything I had-"

"The thing is, you didn't have to," Skylee whispered, turning to face him and reaching to touch his cheek, clearly thinking better of it at the last minute and jerking her hand away as if he burned her. "You didn't have to lose me, Remus. My home was your home, right from the first day I met you."

He looked away, staring idly at the trees of the Forest and fiddling with one frayed hem of his robes. "The first day we met, I ran you over with a trolley, pushed you out the boat, tripped you up on the stairs spilt pumpkin juice all over your skirt, and managed to get us both lost in the dungeons," he paused, a smile tugging at the edge of his lips as he looked down at her and noticed her expression mirroring his. "Sorry."

"You apologise too much," Skylee retorted instantly, rolling her eyes and relaxing her posture slightly. The fire from earlier was rapidly blowing itself out, neither had much more to say to one another. There was still so much left to say but out in the open with the Dementors lurking so close, it was dangerous to bring anything personal into the open air.

"So... Dufftown?" Remus asked casually, his penetrating gaze on Skylee's as her expression crumpled and instantly she tensed, waiting for what he couldn't possibly know.

"Apparently."

"It could be a rumour," he suggested, turning slightly towards the castle and allowing himself a tiny smile as she stepped closer to follow him. "Sirius could be in Greenland for all we _really _know." She scoffed and tossed her dark hair, the youthfulness fully restored now as she sighed and looked up at the castle helplessly.

"He's not. He's coming here..." Skylee shook her head abruptly, feeling a little ill. She scooped up her bag and continued to follow the Professor, keeping an eye out for eavesdroppers as they went. So far, the coast was clear except for Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class near the Forest, but they were too far away to even recognise Remus or Skylee, let alone hear them.

"You still feel him?" Remus asked incredulously, pausing for a moment to stare at his once-best-friend. She didn't turn around or even miss a beat as she nodded and the muscles in her back clenched uncomfortably. Just as she could feel Remus' stare, his presence when he entered the room; she could feel all the Marauders at one stage, Lily too.

"When he was- he was in Azkaban," Skylee swallowed thickly and kept walking, determined that Sirius Black wouldn't be hurting or haunting her any further. "It was like a piece of my mind was missing. Like a painfully loud buzzing whenever he crossed my mind. The moment he escaped and I heard it in the pub... I tried feeling him again- the buzzing was gone. I knew he was free, bloody ecstatic about it too. And there was madness- a burning insanity I've never felt in anyone but Voldemort before."

"Azkaban sends people insane," Remus said quietly, daring to reach one arm around her shoulders and releasing the breath he didn't remember holding when she didn't shake him off. He felt her tremble under his touch, though that could just be from the cool breeze still shifting through the trees.

"I'm not crazy, Moony," Skylee snapped, her tone sharp and her muscles tensing as she tried to pull away. Remus caught her and placed his hands on her shoulders, only a little worried that they might be seen. "I'm not crazy," she whispered to him, leaning into his touch as he applied just enough pressure to keep her nearby.

"A wise woman once said to me; you can't be Black without being batty."

Sky laughed through her nose and shook her hair behind her shoulders, a new light of strength and resolve shining in her stormy grey eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a Riddle too. How screwed up am I?"

He cracked a smile at that, a little lopsided grin she had so loved and only now realised how much she'd missed. The lines around his mouth deepened with the action and he tossed his head from side to side as if mulling her words over in his mind. The action highlighted the grey flecks in his caramel-blonde hair, a testament of just how much the lycanthropy was taking from him.

"Based on your blood, only slightly," he teased, easily slinging an arm around her again as if they were seventh-years with the world as their oyster. By seventh year, they'd been on-again-off-again dating for months; realising how close reality was, the mutual decision to make it official was born and quickly, 'friends' turned into 'more' and 'more' turned into 'love'. "Add to the equation dating a werewolf, and _slightly_ turns into _very_," Remus quipped, earning a sharp, instinctual elbow to the ribs.

"I'm not dating a werewolf," she muttered, glaring at the path ahead that lead to the castle. "Even if I was, you're the only one with a problem."

"Me... and the rest of the world; the Ministry would be all over you like mice in a cheese shop." He sounded jovial, the well-rehearsed line spouting from his lips as almost an excuse. Skylee rolled her eyes and slowly, her arm came around his waist and rested there. He held her shoulders and she held his waist, the two looking more than a little awkward at this oh-so-familiar-but-forgotten pose.

"Oh, screw the Ministry," she whispered, squeezing him lightly as they stepped onto the path leading to the castle. Only when the sounds of students could be heard did Skylee pull away, looking rather reluctant to do so. He opened the castle doors for her and she stepped through with a gracious smile in his direction.

"If you're offering, I'm sure half of them _would."_

"Remus!" She smacked his arm roughly, scandalised at his rather crude insinuation. He just chuckled at her and stood impatiently at the top of the stairs to the dungeons, pointing down in the direction of the Potions Classroom with a nervous smile.

"You going to class?"

"Haha, yeah, and face Snivellus? No," Skylee responded sarcastically, her dark look down the stairs only making Remus' smile fall into a look of concern, his eyebrows drawing over his eyes as he reached for her and she twisted away- having seen Severus rapidly approaching from the direction of the library, looking livid as expected and the fury emitting from his black eyes making the temperature drop several degrees.

"You!" Severus shouted, ignoring Remus as he swept in and grabbed Skylee by the arms, shaking her roughly. "Where the _hell _have you been?"

She jerked herself away and drew back a hand to slap him, missing his face by less than an inch and revelling in the blink of surprise. "Helping _Black _into the castle, where else?" she snarled, grey eyes flashing against his black ones. They were inches apart, the furious electricity between them making the air nearly crackle.

"I thought that was _his _job?" Severus hissed, pointing to Remus. The latter took a furious step forward and placed a hand on the Potions' Master's chest, pushing him away from Skylee without much effort at all. At the same time, Remus caught Skylee and held her from attacking Snape.

"You ought to wash your nose, Snivellus, it's covered in other people's business!" she hissed, pushing Remus' arm off her and poking her finger into Snape's chest. He bit his lip to hide a wince and calmly grabbed her wrist, bending it at an awkward angle and lowering the offending limb to her side.

"Borrowing your cousin's insults, Tabanca? Haven't you the mental capability to create your own?"

"Enough, both of you!" Remus snapped, stepping boldly between the two and holding them apart. The rivalry was apparently back in full force, and Snape's horrid sneer was more than enough reason for Skylee to feel oddly disappointed in him. He wasn't... _all _bad, she thought. Just a total prick.

"Remus-"

"Shut up, Sky," he growled, turning to Severus and brushing back Remus' caramel hair from his hazel eyes. "Severus, you are a grown man. Schoolyard rivalries should be put to rest for the sake of the Greater Good- namely, protecting Harry from a man who wants to kill him. Skylee, you have the face of a child but _must _you act like one? I am not going to be peacekeeper between you two all year so sort yourselves out and start acting like that mature adults you both can be. Stop acting like your family-" Remus shot a look at Skylee, who visibly reeled as if he'd struck her- "And you stop acting as though the mark on your arm makes you superior."

Severus drew back in shock as the werewolf glared at him and stormed off along the corridor to the staircase. Skylee had a pained look on her face and she took a deep breath, blowing her fringe out of her eyes.

"He's right, you know," she said quietly. Severus scoffed and rolled his eyes, sweeping past her to descend the stairs to his classroom.

"Right or wrong, I don't believe I gave him permission to define our relationship," he called over his shoulder, earning himself a sharp glare. Skylee drew her wand and hexed the hem of his robes to affix to his ears. Severus froze, turning around on wiry, pale legs and extending a finger at her, to which Skylee grinned and bowed.

"We, Severus, do not have a _relationship _nor have we _ever _had one unless 'mutual hatred' is classified as such." She began to skip off to the stairs leading upwards, following after Remus to attempt to regain the almost-friendship struck on the Quidditch Pitch. Besides, she had a few hundred questions for him that needed to be answered.

"I don't hate you, Skylee. I've never hated _you; _I only hate who you become when you're with them."

There was no doubt in her mind as to exactly _who _Severus was referring to, but Skylee didn't stop or turn around to ask him more. He could wait as far as she was concerned; she was in no mind for Snape and his silly riddles.

-[-]-

Harry jumped as Snape slammed the door to the classroom open, storming up to his desk with a face paler than usual and his fists clenched. The formidable teacher stopped at the head of the classroom, his fingertips lightly brushing the hardwood desk that was his, and sank into a chair. He didn't look well at all, in fact, he looked quite shaken. The Muggle expression would be 'like he'd seen a ghost' and being at Hogwarts, seeing ghosts was a daily occurrence.

Snape's visibly ill state didn't slip by the watching eyes of his class and Harry heard the whispers before he decided to join in, sidling closer to Ron and feeling Hermione squeeze in on his other side. "What happened, you reckon?" Harry asked, his voice a mere fraction of a murmur and his eyes locked on his page.

"I dunno mate, but for Snape to look like that..."

"Maybe Black's closer than Dufftown?" Hermione suggested and Harry felt the blood drain out of his face. He knew why Sirius Black was coming to Hogwarts, knew that once again the Boy-Who-Lived- ugh, that hated title- was under threat from Lord Voldemort and his minions.

Harry Potter also knew that his almost-godmother was posing as one of his best friends so she could be with him even at Hogwarts. And, Harry thought snippily, Skylee Tabanca had been nowhere to be seen since reading the paper at breakfast. Two hours later and she was still off somewhere; Dumbledore crossed Harry's mind, but he shook the suspicion away. Skylee usually had an excuse for disappearing and Snape would be his usual lording self without her icy glares to reign him in.

"Bet Skylee's done something," Harry muttered, a feeling of dread curling in his stomach. If she wasn't with Dumbledore and Snape- who was, Harry knew, a sort-of friend to Skylee- was looking rather off, then something must have gone wrong. There were a million possibilities but none so prominent as the one lingering in Harry's mind, the one he refused to speak aloud.

"What if Black's here?" Ron whispered fearfully, reading Harry's mind and making every student nearby turn to stare. Nervously, the redhead looked down at his page and put down his quill, nibbling on the inside of his lip as he met Harry's eye. "What if Black's in the castle and that's why she's not here?"

"She's a powerful witch," Hermione murmured placidly, placing a hand on Harry's as he gripped his quill hard enough to bend it in half and snap. "She'll be more than fine."

"Black escaped Azkaban when nobody else _ever _has, Hermione," Harry growled, staring at his page with a raw fury in his eyes. "He could get her and be gone before we knew what happened. She knows him, I know she _knows _him- she probably tried hunting him down. She could be out there, hurt and injured and needing-"

"Mister Potter!" Snape shouted, bringing a fist down onto his desk and snapping the class' attention away from Harry's ranting. Nobody moved as the Potions' Master stood and glared down his hooked nose at the Gryffindor students, a sneer of disgust on his face.

"If you're referring to your troublesome little friend, _Potter, _I suggest you keep you talking to say... non-existent? Miss Tabanca is already in a world of trouble for skipping my class and I'm sure she wouldn't want to spend the detention I have planned for her with _you."_

Harry bit his lip and glowered, Snape smirked and flicked his wand at the door so it flew open and a slight breeze entered the room.

"Class dismissed. Now, get out."


	6. Breaking In

**Breaking In**

"SKYLEE! WHERE THE DEVIL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Harry shouted, approaching the dark-haired witch as he emerged on the fourth floor and she attempted to slink into the Defence classroom without being seen. Ron sniggered at the look on their female friend's face as she turned to look at Harry patronisingly and, seeing the fury in his green eyes, thought better of it and shrugged.

"I needed some air-"

"Don't you dare lie to me," Harry snapped, walking past her and into the classroom. Skylee followed quickly and grabbed his wrist, yanking him around to face her and glaring at him, frustrated.

"_What _is biting your arse, Potter?" she whispered angrily, sounding like a tormented snake on the verge of striking. Harry jerked his arm away and shrugged.

"Besides a raving lunatic trying to kill me and the person supposed to protect me disappearing? _Nothing," _he stressed, throwing his bag and body into his usual seat by the wall and dragging Ron into the one beside him. Skylee dumped her bag and leaned to whisper in both their ears.

"I disappear for your own good, Potter. I'm a fully qualified Auror so I think I'm alright to recheck the wards on the castle, making sure that the said raving lunatic doesn't get within ten miles of you, don't you?" she muttered, giving Harry a very pointed look as she took the seat in front of him and determinedly stared at the blackboard, waiting for the lesson to begin.

"Sky?" Ron called, his foot nudging the leg of her chair. She didn't turn around, but a smile twitched her lips. Harry kicked her seat a little more violently and she jumped, turning to glare at him with a suppressed smirk on her lips.

"Sorry," he said simply, genuinely feeling guilty for snapping and allowing his anger and frustration cloud his judgement. "I'm... I guess I'm just-"

"Scared, Potter? You should be. Black knows more dark magic than my family put together-"

"Practising for dickhead of the year, Malfoy? You're doing well," Ron snarled, wand discreetly drawn and held in his hand below the table. Sky saw the protectiveness and tossed her hair over her shoulders confidently, wondering if she should risk dropping another insult directed at Draco's father- who would undoubtedly tell Lucius whatever she accused him of.

"Thankfully I'm not running for blood-traitor. That's your place, isn't it Weasley?" Malfoy smirked and knew he hit a nerve when Ron let out an almighty roar and stood, nearly knocking his desk over in the process. He raised his wand and at the last minute, Skylee diverted the curse on his lips to crash harmlessly into the wall. There was a shower of sparks and Malfoy squealed, ducking though the spell wouldn't have hit him at all.

"Leave it, Ron," Sky whispered, holding the fuming redhead's wrist until he stopped shaking and nodded his head curtly. He fell back into his seat with a dark look in the direction of the Slytherins, all of whom were sniggering now they thought they had the upper hand.

"Look at ickle-Ronniekins. Needs his girlfriend to stick up for him- stay there, Gryffindor, don't touch me!" Malfoy started shrieking as Skylee placed a hand on his forehead and pressed him into his seat, leaning over the table and turning her back on the Slytherin students to sit upon Draco's parchment.

"You feel a little warm, Malfoy. Perhaps you need to... go jump in the lake?" she asked casually, noting with pleasure that Harry and Ron were sharing smirks and trying not to laugh. While it wasn't entirely funny, they found it amusing to watch Malfoy humiliated by Skylee's smaller stature and sharp eyes.

"Professor!" Harry called, the door leading to Remus' office shutting with a little more force than Skylee deemed necessary, but she took the warning and slithered back to her own seat, glowing at the Slytherin boy and swearing that if she ever met Lucius in the street, she'd slap him silly for raising such an insufferable, pig-headed, carbon-copy of the man himself.

"Good morning class, I trust you are all well?" Remus bestowed a bright smile upon the class as he took in their appearances, eyes resting on Skylee's for a moment longer than was proper and she licked her lips just to mess with his head. Blushing profusely, Remus turned to the board and began writing a list of mildly dark creatures upon it.

"He's been here what, thirty seconds, and you've already unsettled him," Hermione hissed from behind. Skylee whirled around and stared at the bushy-haired girl, eyebrow raised.

"When did you get here?" she asked suspiciously, noticing Hermione tugging her collar as she looked away and shrugged with a little smile on her lips and a shifty look in her eyes that screamed 'guilty'.

"I've been here all along, Sky," Hermione replied sweetly. Unconvinced, Skylee shook her head and shrugged as she began copying Remus' list down and, knowing what came next, began listing the effect each creature had upon a human and how best to defend oneself from said creature. He was making the task just challenging enough for a third year to do, but for Skylee- who had, of course, done it all before- the list was a cinch.

Sticking her tongue out between her teeth, she completely crossed out anything serious and dug deeply into the stores of 'sarcastic bitch' that populated most of her mind. At least, the mind that also held 'teenage hormones'; which, being in a teenage body, were running quite wild.

_Hippogriff-. Hippogriffs don't generally attack unless you insult or provoke it, so... don't insult the bloody thing and if it looks mad, run. Thought that much would've been obvious, your uncle being the owner of a hippogriff farm and all..._

_Augurey- not a dark creature, Lupin, you'll have to do better than that. Auguries are often considered heralds of death- they're cousins to the phoenix and are native to this general area. They give a low, keening cry when rain is approaching. It's said the Augurey also cries if someone's just died. Also, they keep that continuous crying up to the point of driving a body insane because I can't tell whether it's about to rain or if dear old Dad's dropped dead. Hopefully the latter but I've never been very lucky._

_Basilisk- run like there's a livid Lily with a flying cupid on your tail. Or chop off its' head... without looking in its' eyes. Basilisks can petrify their victims before eating them, and only a Parselmouth can control it. Basilisk also are very, very poisonous. Summary; stay away from the big snake. Not healthy._

_Billywig- Ah, billywigs! I love these things! Little blue bugs from Australia. They're damned hard to catch but oh, the buzz! If stung by a billywig, the resulting high often ends in slight levitation. If you get stung too many times, the levitation can become permanent... people sell these things as drugs! And the venom is used in fizzing whizbees- that's... not cool. I haven't had a fizzing whizbee since I was fourteen. Well, defence against a billywig- if you see something small and blue hurtling at you and it's not a book being thrown by Potter, throw up a fly net. If you can't keep your feet on the ground, wear lead boots. _

"Um, Professor?" Lavender Brown called, her hand in the air. Remus looked up and nodded for her to continue, but she bit her lip and looked at Padma for support and remained silent. Rolling her eyes, Parvarti stood in their place.

"We were wondering if you're any good at the magic you're teaching. We had Lockhart last year and while he was alright to look at, he was bloody useless."

"Poor bugger got strung up by Cornish Pixies," Padma giggled at the memory and Skylee caught Remus' amused stare. Neville coughed and indicated himself, and then pointed at the chandelier.

"Actually, that was me. Lockhart was too busy hiding under the desk."

"Hmm, somebody owes me fifty quid," Remus murmured, voice just loud enough to travel across the classroom. Skylee blushed and looked away, remembering their little bet they had running back in 1980. Lockhart had just been starting out then with all his fantastic deeds and Skylee had been quite taken with his smarmy good looks.

Remus bet her fifty quid that he was a useless wimp.

"I don't have fifty quid," she whispered to Harry, who just stared at her with an open mouth. She winced slightly, recalling the fact that she hadn't disclosed her former relationship with Remus to anybody. Let alone the boy she was supposed to be protecting... she feared explaining about Remus would lead to James, and then to Sirius- which was a topic Skylee was not too fond of at the best of times and after the encounter with the Dementors, she was loathe to bring him up in conversation.

"You know him?"

"We go way back. Like, twenty-two years," she murmured in response to Ron's incredulous look. Shrugging and turning back, Skylee picked her quill up between two thin fingers and twirled it thoughtfully, not particularly in the mood to learn anything or write another word.

Sighing, she dropped the quill onto the table and leaned back in her chair, slouching something chronic and closing her eyes. Sleeping in class used to be easy for Skylee; she and Sirius had more than once earned detention for snoring. He snored like a chainsaw- she refused to admit that her breathing was heavy while she slept. A smirk crept upon her face as she recalled Slughorn's angry face waking them up with a sharp rap on their desks. _Black, Tabanca- detention!_

But now, it was nearly impossible for Skylee to sleep unless she was in complete darkness and complete silence. The littlest sounds would rouse her and the tiniest crack of light would have her tossing and turning to the point of swallowing a Dreamless Sleep and becoming comatose until morning. If she could get her hands on any of the stuff- it wasn't cheap and she was useless at brewing her own.

"Sky!" Harry hissed, his foot nudging her chair so she jerked forward and slammed back into it. Just for fun, she let out a thunderous snore and heard the classroom fall silent. Nothing seemed to stir and Skylee was more than disappointed; so she did it again.

"Miss Tabanca!" Remus' sharp voice made her jump and she played on the reflex, leaping up so violently that her chair made a loud crack as she settled back into it.

"Yes, Professor?" Skylee asked with a grin, leaning forward to rest her head on her hands and try to act innocent. Remus was visibly struggling with some emotion- annoyance or amusement, she couldn't tell- as he stood and withdrew from his pocket a detention slip. Very casually, he made his way to stand before her desk and place the slip upon it, taking her work as he did so.

"You were _snoring_, Miss Tabanca. I assume you believe your talents superior to the rest of your classmates?" Remus asked, quietly mocking Severus and winking at her to show his teasing. She bit her lip against a snort of laughter and ducked her head.

"I'm not a Slytherin, sir."

Remus gave a very quiet, strangled laugh and picked Skylee's quill from her table, neatly filling in the detention slip and leaving it on the desk as he returned to his. "You'd better not think yourself too mighty to attend that detention, Miss Tabanca. I guarantee you do not want to miss it." She gaped at his nerve, the tone of his voice taking on a silky, low texture that left no doubt in her mind that he was flaunting his authority in her face.

Tossing her hair defiantly, she turned around to face Harry and received a smug grin from the Trio, all three of them looking rather sheepish as she caught them trying not to laugh.

"Not one word, Potter," Skylee warned, waving a finger in his face. Harry nudged Ron and the redhead chortled under his breath, shaking in his seat and becoming quite unable to write. Even Hermione was snickering and Skylee looked between the three of them again, feeling very put out at their lack of support. "Oh, real mature," she rolled her eyes and turned away grumpily, staring up at Remus who refused to look back.

"Oh, real mature," Harry mocked. Skylee snorted but didn't turn around; no, she wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

"Bloody Potters," she muttered instead, so quietly that nobody would hear it even if they'd been sitting beside her. She rolled her eyes at some memory or another; really, by now the amount of memories revolving around James Potter had grown to a blurry mess, she couldn't distinguish their Hogwarts days from their summers... every day with James Potter tended to be like a fun summer day.

"Okay," Remus called nearly ten minutes later, standing from his desk and waving his wand to summon their work. "You worked well today, guys. For homework, I would like you to read page twenty-six of your textbooks and _actually _pay attention; trust me, it'll be worth it." He waved and took the pile of parchment up the curved staircase to his office, leaving the door open as he poked his head out once again.

"You can go, people," Remus smiled and quietly closed his door as, almost as one, the class gathered their things and headed for the door. Harry walked beside Skylee and Ron fought off Dean Thomas to walk beside Hermione.

"Well, that wasn't so bad was it?" Ron declared, casting an absent look back to the classroom door. Skylee shrugged and rummaged through her bag, hand colliding with a rectangular shape in the form of an envelope and her eyebrows raising in surprise. She'd completely forgotten about the mail... the letter from a familiar yet strange person...

"I quite enjoyed it. I think we're doing something with Boggarts next week..." Hermione replied, flipping open her book to page twenty-six and pointing out the title. Harry took it and skimmed through it curiously, showing more dedication to his studies than usual. His distraction allowed Skylee to drop back a little, opening the letter and reading quickly.

_Dearest Skylee,_

_It has been many years since we have been in the same room. Indeed, it has been many years since we have been friends and I sincerely regret letting what we had fall to nothing. If there is any chance of redemption for my idiotic, still faithful heart... I will seize it and refuse to let go. I have truly missed you these years, more than you would believe._

_Yours, Remus Lupin._

Skylee took a deep breath and, with her heart pounding lightly with anticipation, she stashed the letter out of sight as the Quartet entered the Charms room. Lunch wasn't far away now and Skylee was more than hungry; and just a little excited for the day to be over so she could write a reply to Remus. Confusion filled her mind at the thought; what on earth could she say to him?

'I've missed you too, Moony, and I'll give you a second chance even though ten years is such a long time and I'm trying to kill our former best friend?'

She snorted and earned a slightly confused stare from Harry, Ron and Hermione. At least they were sitting on the same row for this lesson- learning the Impervious Charm. Waving her hand, Skylee stood her book up and tore a piece of parchment from the scroll in her bag, hiding it from the prying eyes of Harry Potter.

_Remus,_

_I don't quite know what to say. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you this year... not that it isn't good to see you again, because it is. But it's awkward for more than one reason. For one obvious reason, I'm pretending to be thirteen. For another... you heard what Dumbledore said. I'm here for Harry, not for me- even if this has helped me pick up my life from the rut it was in. I'm here to defend Hogwarts and Harry from Sirius... no matter what it happens. I have missed you too, and I would like to catch up properly; outside the school. Harry's not allowed to go- Dursley didn't sign the damned form and Minerva won't let me do it- so he should be safe enough in the school. We- you and I- will have to speak to Dumbledore first._

_There's a meeting tomorrow night, we'll discuss this then rather than through a letter. I don't know if we'll ever be the way we were but I'm more than willing to try._

_Skylee._

She folded that and stowed it away in the same pocket as the rest of the letters. Harry was staring at her with an eyebrow raised, silently pointing to the letters and mouthing '_what?' _ Skylee smirked and shook her head at him, mentally quoting something Sirius used to say- _what's a Black without a little mystique?_

Rolling his eyes, Harry turned to Flitwick to hear the introduction to repelling charms and Skylee half tuned out, humming the music to the Wailing Warlocks' _Charmed By You _under her breath. Before long, Harry was idly tapping his toes and Ron was nodding his head; Hermione shot all three of them a 'shut the hell up' look but none of them noticed.

"Right, everybody," Flitwick shot a few crackling sparks into the air to capture their attention, standing precariously on his pile of books and smiling lightly. "I want you all to repeat the incantation- _impervio!"_

Skylee muttered along with the rest of the class, more than eager to go dash down to the kitchens and grab her food before heading on down to the beech tree near the edge of the lake. It had towering branches and was by far the best place to go- hidden from the view of anyone looking from the castle, people sitting near that tree could pretty much do whatever they wanted without being pestered by teachers.

"Okay, wands up and point them at the cloth before you. Good, now, it's a sharp downward slash- good, good- _no, _Mr Weasley, _straight _down- not diagonal- yes, that's better..." Flitwick moved among them quicker than he looked capable of, his eyes seeming to be everywhere at once so even Skylee couldn't slack off. "Miss Tabanca, I realise you are a gifted student but you _must _do something- oh," Flitwick shot her a mildly irritated glance as she quickly and easily performed the charm.

"Would you like me to reverse it too, Professor?"

"No, just... be quiet," he sighed and turned to correct Neville's movement while Harry sniggered into his elbow.

"It's not funny, Harry. Skylee ought to be setting a better example for us," Hermione said, slightly frustrated as her charm kept misfiring and her cloth seemed to attract water rather than repel it. Sighing in annoyance, Hermione gave a vicious downward slash and the tip of her wand hit the desk, sending out sparks and singing the cloth. "_Why _won't this damned thing _repel!"_

"Impervi_o, _not 'a'," Skylee whispered to Hermione's irritated glare. "Hermione, relax. Messing up is part of learning. You'll get it eventu- oh, you got it," Skylee looked mildly disappointed at having her lecture squashed, but Hermione positively glowed with triumph. The triumph quickly became gloating as Hermione performed the reversal perfectly, then reapplied the impervious charm.

"That's not half unfair, Hermione. We're not even doing the reversal yet and you... urgh," Ron threw his wand down exasperatedly and Hermione rolled her eyes, turning bodily to face the redhead as Harry inched away from their bickering and Skylee mostly ignored the three of them in favour of gazing idly out the window and wishing she could go for a run. Or, preferably, lunch.

"Right, now everybody pour your cups of water onto your cloth and hold it up. If it is completely dry, you have succeeded- just like Miss Granger has been so kind as to demonstrate!"

"_Repeatedly," _Skylee hissed to Harry, who snorted but by some stroke of luck Seamus managed to set fire to his cloth at the same time and the subsequent shout of 'oh, Merlins' balls' conveniently covered up their teasing of Hermione.

"Repel the fire, Seamus!" Ron shouted. Flitwick rushed over and dumped water on the fire, glaring at Ron as if he might have had something to do with it.

"Repelling the fire, Mr Weasley, would have deflected it onto Mr Finnigan's robes. Unless you want to see your friend as crisp as a Christmas turkey, I suggest you don't attempt to repel anything but water. There was a case in 1452, during the witch-hunts, when-"

"Bell!" Ron whooped, gathering his things with a sweep of his hand. Mildly impressed and slightly horrified at the way his notes crumpled, Hermione followed him swiftly and Harry just shook his head- nonetheless, he was just as eager to flee the lecture. Skylee ducked behind a tall Ravenclaw and scooted, heading directly for the kitchens for food then to the Owlery.

"Oi, Tabanca!" the shout came from behind, from the direction of the Transfiguration classroom. Where the third-year Slytherins had just exited with the rather terrified Hufflepuffs... Skylee groaned mentally and plastered a smile on her face as she turned to face Draco Malfoy.

"Hello, Draco. How's your father?"

"Don't play nice. Where's Potter? Hiding from the Dementors?"

"Where's your dignity? In a ditch with your social standing?" Skylee knew she'd struck a nerve when Malfoy pulled his wand and waved it under her nose in what he clearly thought was an intimidating fashion. For someone who spent the better part of six years chasing, fighting and defeating dark wizards with much more experience and scare-factor, Malfoy's little stick was about as harmful as a salt grain in the ocean.

"Watch your mouth. My father told me all about your mother- friends with Sirius Black, was she?" Malfoy gloated and folded his arms, obviously expecting Skylee to have no reply to such an accusation. As true as it was, it still hurt to think of Sirius as a _former _friend... even more so to hear the rat-faced boy insult both Skylee and Sirius. So what if he was as good as dead to her?

"Hmm, and my mother told me all about your father. Dirty little Death Eater, wasn't he? Right up there, kissing Lord Voldemort's arse like a good little bitch?"

"How _dare _you! _Furunculous_!"Malfoy shot the curse so hastily that it went wide of its' own violition, all Skylee had to do was watch it go and turn back to the shocked boy with a cold smile on her face. She was vaguely aware of some recess in her mind telling her to stop, that this _isn't who you are. You're not a monster no matter what blood is in your veins. Stop it, Skylee. You're nothing like your family- you're not a Black, or a Riddle, you're a Tabanca and they are Gryffindors._

"I would watch out, Malfoy," Skylee murmured, her voice sounding oddly twisted and demented in the emptiness of the corridor. Crabbe and Goyle backed away warily and Malfoy positively shat his pants as he trembled. "The next person you attack... might not be who you think they are..."

"W-What?"

"You ought to be careful, little boy. Messing with the Dark Arts isn't for _children... _what would Dumbledore say?_"_

His fear seemed to evaporate in an instant. "You can't touch me. I'll have you expelled from this school and banished from England. I'll have your mother's war medals stripped and your name soiled for the rest of forever. I'll have you announced as accomplice to Sirius Black and you'll be in Azkaban-"

"Draco, dear boy... Azkaban could never hold me. Don't you read the papers?" Skylee drawled, conjuring a certain article from behind her back. During her years in Azkaban, a tell-all had been written and within the two-page spread on Lily and James' friends, Skylee had been given an article on her bloodline alone. _Daughter of darkness indeed- how could she not be, with blood as Black as hers? Add to that a dash of royalty; You-Know-Who's only known heir is certainly a character to be avoided._

"I don't know what you're talking about," Draco said haughtily, puffing out his chest. Skylee could still hear a little voice in her head- sounding remarkably like Lily's- telling her to walk away from a fight, to just leave it alone. Hot-tempered and impulsive, Skylee often attacked without thinking and only after discovering her father's identity did any of her actions make sense. The fearlessness around snakes, the attraction to the Basilisk, the thrill of desire she had whenever she saw Dumbledore's wand. The reckless way she would seek power and then abuse it; if it weren't for her mother's heart, Skylee could have followed her father into darkness.

"Really? Have a little peek then." With that, she dropped the article onto the stone floor and stalked away before Malfoy could get a good look. She knew, however, that the first words he'd see were _You-Know-Who's only known heir..._

Skylee grinned all the way down to the kitchens, tickled the pear with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm because it refused to let her in until she'd scratched every inch of it. On the way back up, she ran into Severus Snape who still looked more than put-out at their tiff that morning and just to be a pain, Skylee hugged him round the middle, wished him a happy and pleasant day, and skipped out into the lingering sunshine while whistling "It's A Small World".

"Infernal woman, infernal noise, infernal song." She heard the call and whistled all the louder, trying to inject as much merriment into her tune as possible. Just to annoy the world's Greasiest Man.

-[-]-

Finally collapsing in bed on Friday evening, Skylee pushed her homework as far underneath as she could without it spilling out and without Hermione being able to see her lazy effort at 'learning'. The end of the most exciting first week of Hogwarts ever had finally arrived and to be honest, Skylee wasn't looking forward to meeting Remus in Hogsmeade the next day. Harry was to be under the strict supervision of Hagrid, and because he had the Cloak, she knew quite well that she could run into him in the village.

Even though she warned him on pain of death not to go there without her. She'd be more than willing to show him secret passageways out of the castle if he agreed to let her accompany him- Sirius had been spotted in Dufftown four days earlier, and if he was heading for Hogwarts he could very well be in Hogsmeade. Somewhere Skylee did not want Harry to be alone.

"I'll have Ron and Hermione with me, Sky. Surely he won't-"

"Honestly, Harry, the man blew up fourteen people. He's Voldemort's biggest kiss-arse; killing two thirteen-year-olds isn't going to smear his conscience if he has the chance to deliver _you _to his master."

"But Voldemort's dead! Everyone says so!"

"Open your eyes, Potter, he's not gone! You've faced him twice in the last two years and each time there hasn't been a body. When you were a baby, there wasn't a body either. If he was dead, he wouldn't have been able to just disappear. In the dungeons with Quirrell; you burned the man, not the soul-sucker attached to him. In the Chamber, you destroyed a living memory of Voldemort- _not the man himself. _Hagrid's right, he's not human enough to die."

Harry had stormed up to his room, shouting that Skylee wasn't his mother and she had no right to treat him like a child and if she did consider him her family then why wouldn't she let him go to Hogsmeade? _You can come with me! I won't take the cloak off!_

Sighing and rubbing her tired eyes, Skylee turned on her side and tried to sleep. It wasn't an ideal way to spend the evening, but it would have to do. Harry was mad at her, she was more than pissed at him, the small amount of alcohol she managed to acquire from Severus had wore off hours ago and the result of Dumbledore's insistence that meetings lasted well into the early hours, Skylee was near exhausted.

She felt the tendrils of sleep wrapping around her mind when the door opened. Assuming it was another of her dormmates, she didn't open her eyes or pay much attention. When the person opened the curtains and a bright light shone in her face, Skylee sat up and groaned.

"Get up and follow me. I've warned you about fighting with Draco Malfoy and now you've gone too far. The Headmaster is involved and Lucius Malfoy is storming the castle as we speak. Hurry _up!" _Minerva whispered urgently, her wandlight not allowing Skylee any form of relenting as she pulled her robes over her head and grabbed her own wand, following the professor out into the corridors and yawning widely.

"I didn't do _anything,_ Minerva. I didn't even draw my wand."

"Draco says you threatened him with Dark Arts," Minerva snapped through tightly pursed lips. Skylee was too tired to care how false the accusation was as they stepped onto the revolving staircase and were carried to Dumbledore's office. "Albus, I have Skylee." The door opened and the two women stepped inside, only to come face to face with a furious Lucius Malfoy.

"So this is the little chit," he hissed, glaring at Skylee as though he wished she would combust. The hatred was quite mutual, had been for many years. Though, as Skylee's charade was still in action, she slumped casually into an armchair and eyed off the headmaster.

"Professor Dumbledore, is there a problem?" she asked, shooting a sly look at Lucius and feeling a pang of triumph as his face darkened.

"Of course there is! You attacked my son with Dark Magic! You tried to hex him!"

"I was unarmed and I suck at wandless magic," she replied primly. Dumbledore inclined his head to Skylee and she went quiet, waiting for the evening to move along already. She yawned widely and rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake long enough to be coherent.

"Lucius, may I ask what kind of dark magic Miss Tabanca is being accused of?" the headmaster asked. Malfoy Senior smirked and pulled out a letter and an article- one that Skylee recognised as the one she'd given Draco earlier.

"She is trying to _imperious _my son into becoming a Death Eater for her grandfather."

Skylee snorted and stood up, far too tired and sick of the meeting already. By the look in Dumbledore's eyes, he knew Malfoy was spurting a cock-and-bull story for the benefit of the age-old war between his family and Skylee's.

"Honestly, I thought you would be proud. Dear darling Draco is going to be just like his daddy."

With that parting shot, Skylee practised her 'dramatic exit' again and was sure to slam the door in the face of any protests from Lucius Malfoy. Loud voices could be heard beyond the door and Skylee rolled her eyes, walking instinctively for Gryffindor Tower. She didn't make it past the Common Room, but honestly... those armchairs are incredibly comfortable.


	7. Invasion

**Invasion- Pt. 1**

_James and Lily had spread themselves out on a checked blanket under a huge beech tree near the lake, both glowing with happiness as Lily snuggled up to her husband and there, on his chest, was a baby Harry sleeping calmly. Remus was lazing beside them, and Sky felt her smile spread across her mouth as he reached for her hand and tugged her into his lap, kissing her temple softly as he hugged her tightly. She hadn't noticed just how much she'd missed being this close to him until that feathery-light touch, so real, so familiar... _

"_You're here," a familiar, yet foreign voice called their attention behind the tree, where Sirius was lurking on his own. He stepped into the light, the same young man he had been just before everything fell apart. He wasn't bedraggled as he had been in Azkaban, when she saw him night after night but never spoke to him. Anger rose in her heart, bubbling and quickly boiling over and Skylee struggled to get up, to hurt him, but Remus held her down and stroked her hair, the one sure-fire way to get her to calm down and listen for a minute._

"_What do you want, traitor?" she snapped instead at Sirius, glaring at her cousin as he slunk forward to kneel before the five of them, eyes wide and red-rimmed as if he'd been crying for hours. Odd; Sirius didn't cry for anything, and suddenly he didn't look as young as she thought. His hair was greasy, the lines on his face more pronounced... the grief in his eyes so real. If Skylee wasn't one hundred percent sure that she was dreaming, she would have sworn she was looking right at him._

"_I'm not the traitor, I would've died before betraying them," Sirius replied, his tone rough and harsh as his glare rivalled hers. His temper and hers had always been explosive- a volcano and a tornado, tearing right through each other at any given opportunity. If it weren't for the slight chance of harming the dream-incantation of Remus, Skylee would have thrown all caution to the wind and killed him then and there. Sirius didn't spare another moment of his time for Skylee as he turned to his best friend and held out a hand, which Lily took and drew Sirius close enough to hug him tightly, James placing a hand on his shoulder as the blood drained from his face._

"_We know, Padfoot. We know," Lily murmured, petting his bedraggled hair lightly as he cried into her shoulder. James looked directly at Skylee, those hazel eyes cutting holes right through her soul as they had the night she witnessed that light, that love of life fade from them. She reached for him, desiring to see if maybe, she had died and gone to heaven... if the Muggles had finally succumbed to the Nuclear War threatening them and killed the Earth... if she could just _touch, _just one touch..._

_But Sirius appeared in her line of sight, stopping her from reaching James, from reaching Lily. With a silent growl of rage, Skylee turned around but the lack of eye contact couldn't stop her hearing what her devastated cousin was crying. "I'm so sorry. I would never have suggested it if I knew..."_

"_Knew _what, _Sirius?" she spat, whirling around and striking at him. He ducked her blow expertly and she didn't lunge again, feeling Remus grabbing her from behind, holding her gently but firmly, enough to prevent her from killing Sirius. "Suggested what?" she snarled, eyes burning with rage. What was he talking about? Why weren't Lily and James furious at Sirius? Why were they allowing him to take up baby Harry? Why wouldn't they let her kill him!_

"_You must believe," Remus whispered in her ear. Skylee turned in his arms and he touched her face gently, cupping her cheeks and pressing his forehead against hers though he had to stoop some to do it. "You have to believe, it's the only way to save-"_

"_Me," Sirius interrupted, his voice coming from Remus' lips. "Skylee... please, save me," the voice begged as Remus faded and became Sirius, older and more worn than she'd ever seen him, his breath reeking something foul and his hair as dirty as Snape's. He claimed her attention entirely as he knelt over a too-still Lily and James, Harry sleeping in his godfather's arms. Sirius had tears pouring from his eyes as he touched his forehead to James' chest and a roar of agony was ripped from his throat. Skylee felt the chill of the seen descend upon her as she found herself standing in the middle of the ruins of Godric Hollow, the only place she still saw fit to visit every year on Halloween. The ghosts of the past- as faded and shallow as they were- held some sick comfort for the damaged heart and soul that Skylee possessed._

_Her heart was in her throat as Sirius cradled the baby Harry, sobbing and rocking on his knees, in more grief than she'd ever seen him. He hadn't even been this upset when they heard about Reggie, about Skylee and Remus' plan to flee the UK with Harry as a last-ditch effort to save the hope of the light. She reached for him, her fingers shaking as they stretched for his shoulder... "Sirius, what-"_

_He whirled, wild and furious and alone. "The traitor is out there! He's with Harry, he's at Hogwarts!" Sirius wailed, his face hollowed and haunted from years in Azkaban. Harry had disappeared and Skylee ran to Sirius, discovering that the Dementors were flocking to catch her cousin. He tried to run but they caught him, flung him into a cell and took a rattling breath, drawing the warmth and goodness away from him. For the first time in thirteen years, Skylee didn't feel vindicated by the high-pitched, keening wail of pain emitted by Sirius Black..._

"_Don't! Please!" Skylee rushed to the bars separating her from Sirius, and he crawled to her, his strength failing and his eyes pleading. There was no sign of madness as he easily slipped into Padfoot and back to his human form again._

"_The traitor is at Hogwarts. Please tell me you remember... the only one of us to disappear during full moons... the one who seemed to know which missions would go foul... he's with Harry right now..."_

_Tearfully, Skylee grabbed Sirius' hands and squeezed them tightly, begging him to tell her more, to help her understand. There was one obvious choice, but her mind didn't even begin to cross it, that she had spent years believing a lie, that her life, her existence, her pain was bourne from a cleverly executed lie... "I can't, I don't..."_

"_He's at Hogwarts, he's at Hogwarts!"_

"HELP! HE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

Skylee's eyes opened abruptly to find herself upright in bed, her hand stretched as if she were reaching for something- someone- and very conscious of the tears clinging to her cheeks. The scream... she wiped her face angrily, hating herself for slipping back into those horrid nightmares that hadn't plagued her since Harry came back into her life. She had been preoccupied, she supposed, by the thrill of the threat of Voldemort. Facing her father, no matter in how small proportions, had always served as a sort of drug, a constant adrenaline hit that had her nerves strung and her undoubtedly brilliant mind focussed entirely on killing him.

"SIRIUS BLACK!"

Skylee jumped at the scream, the sound of pounding footsteps, and flew to the door with her tangled hair whipping about her face. Her wand flew behind her as she summoned it wordless and wandlessly, ignorant of the fact that anyone could have seen the display of magic clearly not accomplished by any normal third-year. The scream was not of her own imagining, she knew that much, and she was not going to let this opportunity pass her by. How _dare _he? How _DARE _he sneak into Gryffindor Tower? This was sacred ground- he didn't belong!

She reached the third-year boys' dorm, where a crowd was already gathered, and there was Ron in the middle of it, clutching a squealing Scabbers to his chest. "Sirius Black! He tried to kill me- he was gonna kill me!" the boy wailed. Skylee didn't bother navigating the crowd as she turned on her heel, conscious of the House following her down to the Common, and rushed for the portrait hole.

"Don't! He could be out there!" Percy Weasley tried to catch her but Skylee spun away and darted from the Common, her evasive moves still as sharp as they had been when she was fighting in the First War. Sirius couldn't have gotten far, not on his two feet... _Padfoot! That's how he bypassed the Dementors!_

"Sneaky prick," Skylee panted, rounding a corner and very nearly running into McGonagall as she did so. Barely stopping to explain, Skylee continued to rocket down the corridors, waiting at least until she was in the moonlight before unleashing her own secret weapon. "Sirius- Tower- tried to kill Ron- I'm going after him!" she hollered over her shoulder as she sprinted downstairs.

"Be careful! He's dangerous!" McGonagall's voice was magically magnified, and Skylee didn't bother to dignify that with a response. She knew exactly how dangerous Sirius Black was, but she was already hooked on the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She hadn't felt so young, so _alive, _in years. She kept running until she reached the front doors of the castle, one still standing wide open and revealing the darkened grounds beyond. The full moon shone over the forest and at the base of the trees, a dark shape disappeared into the shadows.

"SIRIUS!" she shouted, catching the door and swinging off it to help herself stop. Chasing him through the castle was one thing, but through the forest? The dream meant nothing, just lingering feelings of guilt that seeing Remus had stirred up. The dream was _not _a premonition or an appearance from her dead friends trying to send her a message from beyond the grave. The dream did _not _mean that Sirius wouldn't hurt someone else- he was still a dangerous murderer and if Skylee was ambushed by him in the Forest, anything could happen.

But... Sirius had been so close to Harry... if Ron hadn't woken up, Harry could've been hurt... Without another thought, Skylee shifted into her Animagus form- a fluffy, lithe white wolf- and bounded after her cousin into the trees. He could overpower her in a magic duel if he tried hard enough, but as an animal Skylee was guaranteed to be stronger. She just hoped that she didn't meet a werewolf in those trees- Moony and Whispers might have been friends thirteen years earlier, but there was no telling how the wolf would react to seeing the mate who turned her back on him.

Skylee shook her magnificent white head to forget Remus; he wasn't helping her concentrate on the mission at hand- catching and killing Sirius Black. By the vicious howl she released, her intentions were clear; she would tear him apart.

-[-]-

A dark figure in a set of long robes left the castle at around three in the morning, heading determinedly for the Forest. A very faint, very weak-looking silver wolf loped easily at the side of the man and disappeared as he reached the trees, finding an equally dark woman crouched in the shadows. She looked about his age, though with the haunted look of disappointment and terror in her eyes she could be years older. Severus sighed as he lowered himself to his knees, grimacing as his bones cracked painfully and Skylee looked at him through tormented grey eyes.

"You didn't call Lupin," he observed, beyond feeling smug and instead feeling quite concerned for this woman who didn't respond with her usual heated insults. She just shrugged and scoffed lightly, looking up at the full moon with a horrid glare usually reserved for Severus.

"I lost him," she murmured, earning a confused glance as Severus slowly looked up at the castle and a voice in the back of his head laughed heartily. _He let her go again? _"Not Remus. S-_Black," _she continued flatly, seeing the direction his thoughts were taking. Nodding, he made no attempt at conversation as they both lurked in the shadows, each consumed by their own thoughts.

"Albus is keeping the students in the Great Hall tonight, all of them. And Harry's fine- shaken and stirred, but fine," he said finally, hearing the relieved sigh more than seeing it. He did, however, see her smiling in the gloomy blue light and wondered what he'd done to induce it. Severus Snape was not a man known for his humour or for a person who was particularly funny- unless he was strung up by his ankles with his boxers on show.

"You called him Harry."

Severus rolled his eyes and felt the pleased smile tugging his lips. Social graces weren't his forte; nay, they were so little that they could barely be called an _attribute, _but no matter how often he managed to drive this woman to tears, to fury, to running away... she always came back. Like an irritating little blowfly, he mused with another twitching of his lips.

"That _is_ the boy's name," he informed the smiling woman before him with a cocky smirk. She ran a pale hand through her messy black hair and rubbed at her eyes, showing just how tired she was. Severus dug through his pockets for his hipflask, something none of the students had ever seen. Within the little silver item was an anti-sleep potion; something that would keep her alert for another hour or so. "Here," he said, offering it to her.

Skylee took it, her fingers settling on an indentation that must have been an inscription. Quickly, she flipped the flask over and the words shone in the moonlight- _For Severus, Love always, Lily. _"Thank you," Skylee whispered, knowing how much this would mean to the reticent man before her. He shrugged her off and resumed his aimless staring; eyes unfocussed but his mind was never far away.

"Why me?" Severus asked quietly, not looking at her but the moonlight enough for her to see the colour in his cheeks. She was confused though and said nothing, waiting for him to explain himself before she accidentally said the wrong thing and scared him off. "Why did your messenge come to me... why not Lupin?"

Eyes widening in realisation, Skylee handed him back the flask but didn't remove her hand from his. It wasn't a romantic gesture in the slightest, but the touch of a friend and his cool skin under her fingertips being a shot of clarity through her addled brain. "Full Moon, for one thing. And because... even if it wasn't... I couldn't face him, not now. Sirius was _here_, so close to Harry and I- I failed, Severus. I _failed._"

"So I'm more apt to deal with your failure?" he asked sharply, drawing his arm away from her firmly and letting her rest against him though he inwardly cringed at the contact. He wondered just how damaged she was to willingly seek the comfort of her schooldays enemy. Skylee rolled her eyes and shook her head, standing awkwardly and beginning to limp towards the castle. Her foot struck a pothole and he managed to arrive in time to prevent her striking the ground.

"You've been more of a friend to me than Remus has in almost twelve years," Skylee whispered, allowing him to steady her though she loathed showing him her weakness. Sirius wasn't the only creature in the woods and the Thestrals didn't take too kindly to a white wolf Animagus bursting upon them, snarling and yipping on the heels of a black, shaggy dog. Naturally, the Thestrals attacked and Skylee had fled as quickly as she could, not before sustaining quite a few bruises and knocks. Not to mention the furious Red Caps lurking in the roots of a huge magnolia tree had found it quite a sport to try and knock her brains out when she wasn't watching.

"And yet you proclaim to hate me," Severus muttered, only half serious in his accusation. She sighed and leaned on him more heavily, her legs seeming unable to support her as she slumped and struggled to stand on her own. "Do you need treatment?" he asked, all traces of bitterness gone in place of his genuine concern. As much as it made him shudder to admit, she too had been the closest thing he had to a friend for a long time.

"Don't hate you. Just... who you are when I'm with them," she quoted something he had said to her earlier, receiving a puzzled stare from Severus as he froze for an instant and removed his hands awkwardly from her body.

"Nonetheless, I am not going to carry you to the castle. Are you able to walk?" he asked, businesslike as if nothing had been said. Skylee was grateful for his ignorance but when she took a step and felt like her legs were on fire- excessive running and the bloody Red Caps nearly knocking her knees out, not to mention the rather deep bite one of the Thestrals had given her- she gave a sharp cry and found herself once again leaning on Severus for assistance.

"_Fucking _Sirius," she muttered. He chuckled darkly and adjusted his grip to one more comfortable for both of them. She tried to minimalise the contact between them and he recognised with an inward chuckle that neither of them were really used to this civility and common likeness between them, though they'd had near a decade to come to terms with the changes within their acquaintanceship.

"Did he do this to you?" Severus asked suddenly, freezing again and shaking her lightly when she didn't reply. Fear rose in the back of his mind, overshadowed completely by a burning anger and the recurring desire to hunt down Sirius Black and kill the bastard. But, while Skylee was practically helpless and she _had _called for Severus, he would remain within the castle grounds and bide his time.

"No," she said after the longest time, moving slowly and wincing as the pain shot up her legs and to the base of her spine. "Thestrals don't like dogs and Red Caps don't like morons who drop their wands in the swamp."

Severus eyed her from the corner of his eye, calculating the distance from where he'd found her to the Swamp. The Patronus would have appeared three seconds after she sent it to him, the swamp was near to the heart of the Forest, and she had been found just a tree or two in. If she dropped her wand in the swamp, she would have made it to the edge of the Forest before calling her Patronus... _without a wand. _"Then how did you- the Patronus?"

Skylee shrugged and tried to keep walking, but he would not move and she couldn't go too far on her own. If she had no wand, how had she summoned the Patronus? It was almost unheard of for somebody to be magically strong enough to produce something that powerful without a channel for their magic... "A Riddle, isn't it?" she quipped, and he could only nod. Her father's blood... the Dark Lord was powerful, nobody denied it, so why shouldn't his daughter be equally powerful? Severus didn't say a word as he half carried her to the castle and upon her request, down to his dungeons. She wouldn't go to the Hospital Wing for something this easy to fix, she proclaimed. Besides, Poppy didn't have a stash of Firewhiskey hidden in her rooms and alcohol sounded like a damned good idea.

Severus silently agreed as he poured himself a fourth and her... eighth? Skylee was definitely buzzed as she lounged on his couch and stared at the fire, but for once being tipsy wasn't making her run around like a loon, chasing Nargles around the room. She was demure and silent as she downed her drink and held her glass out for another- which he refused to pour. Perhaps her leg was giving her more trouble than she liked to admit, or she was simply stewing over her own personal shortcomings.

"Any more of that and you _will_ be hospitalised," he reasoned, to her pathetically weak glare. They'd been in his dungeons for hours now, dawn was approaching fast and if Skylee went to class tanked, Dumbledore wouldn't be very impressed. Neither, he was sure, would Harry- the boy would probably be throwing forty fits as it was, as Skylee hadn't arrived in the Great Hall the night before.

"Gimme the d'm dri'k, Sevr'us," she slurred, waving her glass dangerously. He confiscated it with a wave of his hand and helped her stand up, letting her try to balance on her own and noticing that the muscles in her legs were healed and the bruises barely showing. The bite was scarring over nicely, going a slightly off white colour against the rest of her pale skin and various other scratches, cuts and scars she had amassed over the years. Befriending a werewolf had given her quite a few, then the War even more, Azkaban, and being widely distrusted by anyone had given her lasting memories carved into her flesh. Severus cringed inwardly to see them and handed her the track-pants she'd slept in the night before, the material shredded hopelessly but it would be enough to get her back to her dormitory. She was still wincing as she limped to collect her robe and flung it over her shoulders, yawning horribly.

"You're old," Severus remarked suddenly, cursing himself for his lack of noticing her current appearance. She wasn't the thirteen-year-old she was supposed to be; there were lines on her face, her hair was darker and her eyes didn't hold quite the same amount of mischief as it used to as she sent him her best withering glare.

"Same age as you," she retorted, before her eyes went wide and she began sobering up instantly. She was a long way from stone cold, but the glaze had left her eyes and he could almost see the buzz leaving her. "Brilliant. Not only do I feel like I've been thrown off the Millennium Bridge, but I _look _like it too."

He rolled his eyes at her theatrics and hurriedly snuck her up to Albus so she could be 'cured' of being old. The early morning did nothing to deter a few First Year students from wandering the halls aimlessly and each time one of them strayed too near, Severus would snarl and they'd flee. Skylee would hide her face to avoid recognition- not that anyone of just eleven _would, _but just in case- and laugh silently that her... almost-friend had such a terrifying hold over the kids.

Albus greeted them with his customary twinkling gaze, one which dimmed slightly at the sight of Skylee and her facial expression that looked like someone had kicked her favourite puppy. He had heard, in the briefest, vaguest of terms, of the chase's outcome and had been preparing himself for an explosive and screaming Skylee trying to cave in the roof as she shouted her frustrations to his office.

Not this bedraggled, limping and sheepish figurine who fell into the nearest seat and allowed Severus to escort her to it. Albus had never known Skylee to be a quiet woman, not even in grief, and especially not when she had suffered through what she saw as a personal failure. The fact that she hadn't come to him instantly had come as a surprise- Albus was downright shocked when he learned that she had called Severus to her aide.

"Skylee," the headmaster greeted, offering her a lemon drop to which she crinkled her nose and waved a hand in front of her face, rapidly losing colour and swaying dangerously. She looked ill, and had never in living memory refused anything related to sweets. A trait she had possibly picked up from Remus, as nobody else in her family had quite the same love of sugar. "I see you managed to break my glamours- an impressive feat."

"I wanted him to know it was me," she said flippantly. Severus found himself quite impressed by her ability to speak fluently and without slurring, unsure just when she had cast the sobering charm and _how _she had done it without him noticing. In the past two years, he had learned more about the dark-haired little witch than he had in the years before. He knew, as did everyone, that she had a temper and was talented. How far her talents extended had been a mystery that even Skylee proclaimed not to know the answer to. If she was pushing herself further in the face of Sirius' threat... Severus wasn't sure that was healthy. For anyone.

"Have you spoken to Remus? He may have encountered Sirius deeper in the woods- he still prefers to transform away from the school," Dumbledore asked, stroking Fawkes as he spoke. Severus stooped to whisper in Skylee's ear, words that the old headmaster couldn't hear, and swept from the room. Secrets weren't something Dumbledore was fond of, unless they were his own, and between the two most controversial members of his elite team the secrets could turn downright deadly. Not that he was worried, of course, _he _trusted the ex-Death Eater and the daughter of evil more than anyone else combined.

At the closing of the door, Dumbledore turned and fixed Skylee with his best imitation of Minerva McGonagall's trademark stare. She didn't react much beyond a cool, indifferent gaze in return, her head leaning against her curled fingers and her elbow resting on the arm of the chair as she curled into herself. She looked quite at home and he wasn't sure he was comfortable with this new form of Skylee. Surely, for a woman of notoriously dramatic reactions, she was acting remarkably calm. He couldn't help but wonder if beneath this newfound and suddenly calm exterior, a storm was raging behind fortified walls and how long those walls would hold.

"I screwed up," she said bluntly. "But that's the first and only time I will. I want your permission to hunt the bastard down without the facade of being a student. I want to be myself, not have to worry that every word out of my mouth will lead to the plan caving in. I want to string him up by his fingers and toes and pile bricks upon his chest until he falls to pieces. I want to be the last thing he sees before he dies."

Dumbledore's eyes widened imperceptibly at the venom in her tone and he had to stop himself from shuddering. Filch's mad mutterings during her numerous detentions must have stuck in her head, he reasoned. Skylee may be a Black and a Riddle, but she had the heart of her mother who had died fighting for the Order when Skylee was seventeen. There was no way that Skylee, who was dramatic and wild yes, but _not _evil, could truly wish such a painful revenge upon anyone. Not even her cousin, her former best friend.

Her gaze didn't waver as Dumbledore paced, weighing up his options. He had Severus and Remus watching over Harry during the day, and half the ghosts watching the castle for intruders. Even Peeves helped, swooping low and silent and invisibly through the halls in search of Sirius Black. "I'm not sure that would be good for-"

"For who? For Harry?" Skylee snapped, flaring as quickly as she used to and Dumbledore found himself oddly pleased by her emotional show. Her utter lack of reaction reminded him disconcertingly of Lord Voldemort, and how similar they were despite Skylee's lifelong campaign to set herself up as different, as a true Gryffindor. "Sirius got within three feet of Harry tonight, with me acting as his supposed protector. So who is this charade doing good? Him?"

"You," Dumbledore said frankly, his tone taking on a chastising quality that called for silence. Skylee had only met five people with the ability to keep a class full of students silent without the use of raised voices- McGonagall, Dumbledore, Remus, Severus... and Professor Binns, though that was because half his class fell asleep before he opened his mouth to call the roll. "It's good for you. Being near Harry is giving you the chance to do for him what you couldn't for James."

Skylee blinked and reeled as if he'd struck her, the words tearing a hole through her heart and flooding her mind with the guilt that had wracked her for three years in Azkaban and the nine years beyond it. Her fear, her biggest, deepest, darkest secret spoken so plainly, the truth in the open was too much to bear and she clenched her fists, her teeth, tightly to avoid the anger and the bitter fury coating her mouth with a metallic taste. Though that could have been the blood from her tongue that was currently clenched between her teeth.

"You," she ground out, shaking so hard she could barely stand. Somehow she managed it, through will or sheer determination, and stalked to the door. "You don't have the _first clue _about what I could've done." She gripped the doorframe tightly, her knuckles white and her eyes burning with tears of rage or resurfacing guilt, she couldn't tell. "I'm going with Remus to Hogsmeade this weekend. If I happen to run across one sign of Sirius, I'll be hunting him until one of us is dead." With that, she fled Dumbledore's office, the nagging guilt for taking her anger out on him tugging at her mind until she was met with yet another dilemma. He hadn't reapplied the glamours, and the students were filing out from breakfast.

"Here," a familiar, gravelly voice whispered as a hand grabbed her arm and tugged her into a darkened alcove, out of sight of anyone who didn't know it was there. Skylee struggled silently until she recognised the dark eyes of Severus Snape, and the wand he held in front of her face. Upon seeing her precious wand, tears welled in her eyes and she flung herself face-first into the startled Potions Master, who awkwardly petted her back and cast _Muffliato _to avoid being overheard by nosy students. "What the devil did he do to you, woman?" he demanded, pushing her none too gently off his front.

Skylee looked furious with herself for the tears that she brushed away angrily. "He's worse than a bloody Dementor, he is," she muttered and both winced at the analogy, each having their own demons to face whenever the foul beasts got too near. Severus knew the feeling- Albus Dumbledore had the uncanny ability to pick on one's weaknesses, and use them to his advantage. The world saw him as a Saint... but they, possibly the only two in Britain, saw him as the man he truly was.

"I'll have a few words with him-"

"No, don't," Skylee interrupted quickly, shaking her head and realising with a jolt of shock that she was still clinging to his shirt lapels. She let them go quickly, as if he burned her, and wiped her hands unconsciously on her robes. "I'm just tired, and..." she waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the dungeons and the Forest, not needing to elaborate for him to catch her meaning.

Severus Snape fixed her with a slightly awkward stare as he shifted his weight, the look of nervousness on his face making Skylee stare at him incredulously as the emotion registered in her mind. So foreign was the look that it took a second or two, but she got there eventually- Severus Snape just didn't _do _shy, nervous or weakness. He was... a rock. Chipped and worn, but still as strong as ever. "I'm taking Lupin's defence classes today, while he rests in his quarters. You spend the day with him- Merlin knows you still need each other."

"I _don't_ need him," Skylee declared arrogantly, before her expression softened and she touched his cheek softly. "Thank you, Severus," she whispered, and in the next moment was gone in a manner he supposed she nicked from him- which is to say, if he hadn't watched her go, he would never have noticed her walking away.


	8. So Much to Tell You

**So Much to Tell You**

Skylee took a breath or two as she waited for the Gryffindor Common Room to empty, hidden in shadows and praying nobody would notice her. She hadn't had the courage to face Dumbledore in the wake of her anger, and so she still appeared in her actual form. She wasn't sure how many people alive truly knew what she looked like but she was certain that she didn't want people finding out through her own carelessness. She may have been furious with Dumbledore, but she never intended him any harm.

Finally, the last of the students either left or fell asleep, and Skylee darted across the room in eleven quick steps, bolting up to the Third Year boy's dormitory before the stairs could recognise her femineity and stop her progress. Not that they would have been able to anyway- she had been bypassing McGonagall's _glisseo _charm since she was in First Year.

As she crept into the room, knowing Harry and Company would be out with Hagrid, she made a beeline for the boy's trunk and lifted the lid, her nose wrinkled delicately at the array of smells and sounds that arose from the assorted pile of clothes. "Typical," Skylee muttered, rolling her eyes and _summoning _the Cloak from within Harry's things, not bothering to ask his permission or leave a note as she'd be returning it before he missed it. She couldn't be seen wandering the castle as a thirty-three year old woman, not when the said thirty-three year old woman was supposed to have died with Lily and James.

So, the Cloak was the perfect option for keeping Skylee under wraps until she could face Dumbledore and apologise. She briefly considered casting the glamours herself, but with any glamour there is the responsibility of focussing on it to stop it from slipping. Dumbledore could afford to invest some of his focus in her disguise; Skylee could not. If she disguised herself, it would be very easy to shake. If Dumbledore performed the process, only he- or Skylee herself- could remove it properly.

She relished in her lack of extraordinary height for a moment as she realised the Cloak still covered her perfectly. She hadn't worn it alone for so very long, since the night she, James and Sirius lost the Map to Filch. If only Peeves hadn't stuck fireflies to the Cloak, and chased Mrs Norris directly into Skylee's lap. Back then, she had a sneaking suspicion that the Cloak stretched, as James was a tall bugger and Sirius wasn't small by any measure. She figured it probably would stretch, if it felt like it.

She made her way back down the stairs, again bypassing the _glisseo _though it didn't bother her- sliding down a flight of flattened stairs was far more attractive than climbing them, though she did spare a thought for anyone who may be higher up. They'd be dumped in the Common Room also, and McGonagall would arrive in less than three seconds with her eyes shining like brimstone. Chuckling darkly to herself and scaring the piss out of a napping Seventh Year- Oliver Wood, she recognised- Skylee stepped out into the halls of Hogwarts and quickly jogged to the Defence teacher's private entrance.

Remus had been the one to discover that particular entry, Skylee recalled. In Fourth Year, their teacher had brought in some dark creature- she couldn't recall what, but Remus had wanted to see it- and they'd decided to sneak into the office while James and Sirius caused a distraction. Having found themselves in the office, and the teacher coming in from the classroom side, Remus and Skylee had fled into his private chambers, and found the other exit. From then on, they always felt very smug about the half-hidden little corridor on the Third Floor.

She didn't bother to knock as she slipped within, knowing it would waste time and Remus was unlikely to hear her anyway. If he was anything like the man she remembered, he would be too ill to recognise his own foot. She shed the Cloak and left it hanging over a chair as she shut the door and looked around, pleasantly surprised to find that the room did indeed remind her vividly of Remus Lupin.

Dark creatures lined the walls, shadows flickering in the low candlelight he had on to avoid the brightness of the sun. Various dead things flopped about in jars and books filled every empty space, piled high as the gilded gold lettering shone and flashed. His school trunk, battered and with the left clasp still broken, lay open against the one wall and a couch sat invitingly close to the empty grate.

"Minerva, I've told you I'm fine," a stuffy, pained voice called from a door Skylee hadn't even noticed. It was half covered in a tapestry of Gryffindor, the material bunched to one side to reveal the oak and elm frame. "I'm not as young as I used to be- Minerva?"

"Guess again," Skylee murmured, opening the door and stepping within with a sheepish smile. Remus struggled to sit upright and though he wasn't covered in scratches or bruises as she had come to expect, he was feverish and his eyes were bright, his skin flushed and his hands pale as they gripped his sheets between slender fingers. "Merlin, Moony, you look like crap."

He shot her a disparaging glare and flopped back onto his pillows. "Good to see your sense of empathy remains intact." He spoke to the canopy of his four-poster bed but she didn't need to see him properly to know he was smiling. Or at least trying _not _to smile.

"Don't be like that," she retorted instantly, finding it a little more difficult to summon a robust sense of humour. She approached quickly and summoned a basin with cool water, and a cloth. She dipped and sat gingerly beside Remus, soothingly pressing the material to his burning forehead. He flinched initially but soon relaxed, allowing her to look after him quietly and without the fuss he would have given anyone else. "Is it getting worse?" she asked, despite already knowing the answer. Remus' blue eyes opened beneath her ministrations and fixed her with a stare that spoke volumes of the pain he would not allow her to see.

"The Potion helps," he whispered, smiling slightly though to Skylee it resembled more of a grimace than anything. "I can't deny that... well, I'm going grey."

"Hmm, yes," she ran her fingers through his hair before she could stop herself, the action so reminiscent of long-ago that she bit her lip and regretted it instantly. Remus' eyes softened and he caught her hand as she stood to empty the basin, tugging her softly back to his side.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't release her wrist as he closed his eyes and seemed to melt into the mattress, seeming years older than he was. There were lines on his face she hadn't seen before, a reflection of the years and the trials that she had missed. Without asking for confirmation, she reached for the dampened cloth again and softly mopped his brow, simply going through the motions of caring for a werewolf on the day after the full moon.

As she did so, her mind wandered to catalogue every scar she remembered, every one she'd either witnessed or caused. There was one, a set of three straight lines, that had occurred when they wandered too close to Hogsmeade one evening and Remus had caught the scent of a human. Between the three of them, they had managed to drive him off, though not before she swiped at him with claws and teeth, leaving her mark forever.

Oh, how she had cried to see his wounds the next day! How she had avoided his eyes, been absolutely devastated by the sight of the ugly red marks caused by _her _hand. She refused to transform for weeks afterwards, until the morning of the next moon had seen Remus begging her to accompany them, making light of the hurt she'd caused. Skylee had never forgotten the look of forgiveness, nor the way she felt after causing him harm. She had sworn from that day on that she would never, ever, on her life hurt Remus Lupin.

And yet... she had. Numerous times since. She hurt him when she didn't tell him that she was trying to infiltrate the Death Eaters. She had hurt him when she admitted that she didn't trust him as the Order discovered the presence of a Mole. She had hurt him when she refused to marry him, the first three times he asked. She had hurt him when she took another man to Lily and James' wedding as her date. She had hurt him when, as he told her he was leaving, she let him go. And she had hurt him by being purposely bull-headed in her efforts to _not _find him when she had nothing to lose by doing it.

And then there were the little things. The petty fights over something too small to recall, caused by the stress of the war coupled with the rage he suffered around full moons and her own blazing temper. The times she stormed out of their flat with the promise to never come back. The times when she hid from him the bites, the scratches, he gave her during his transformations. The times she refused to tell him what was bothering her, and they fought over it.

They weren't good for one another, Skylee knew that. She knew that being with Remus would eventually kill her, but she also knew that she would never, ever feel as deeply as she did with him. He was her everything, even if she didn't want to admit that the flame had burned despite the twelve years apart. As bad for her as he was, she knew they were perfectly suited to one another's madness.

"I'm sorry," she breathed finally, eyes screwed shut to stop the burning onset of tears. She was sure he was asleep, he would never hear her tearful plea for forgiveness. She jumped when his larger hand cupped her cheek and his thumb stroked her skin gently; she opened her eyes and met his, grey on blue. "I'm sorry," she repeated, louder this time.

Remus just nodded. "I heard you the first time," he told her softly, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you think you have something to be sorry for."

"What _don't _I have to be sorry for?" she laughed bitterly and he simply leaned back into the pillows again, lifting one arm with a grimace of effort. She stared, some vague memory stirring of hours spent lying against one another in the warmth of the sun, in his dorm, in the flat, in the house... wherever they could find the time to just be, to just enjoy the company they held in each other. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she swallowed her stubborn pride and shifted to rest her head against his shoulder, his arm encasing her as his fingers ran light tracks along her flesh.

Neither spoke, each knowing perfectly well what the other was thinking. Apologies flew in silent flocks, breaching the distance between them as Remus' breathing evened out and he slept- the fever still raging, but soothed and cooled by Skylee's presence. She listened to his heart for a moment or two, hearing the whoosh of the air as he took each breath, feeling the swelling of his chest beneath her head, the double-thud of his heart as it continued evenly on, a metronome of life.

_His _life. She had to wonder if the lycanthropy had shortened it even further, if he had been his stubborn self and dealt with his troubles on his own and more than likely suffered more for it. She knew that he would never live to see eighty, and seventy would be a stretch. Considering the average lifespan of a healthy wizard or witch was over one hundred years, it broke her heart to know that she would lose him earlier than she wanted to regardless of what occurred between then and now.

"You stupid," she whispered, almost fondly, glad he was asleep to not feel her traitorous fingers playing with the collar of his shirt. "Stupid, self-sacrificing man." There was a time, not too long ago, when she would have told him that every time he hurt himself and kept quiet about it. Every time someone hurt _him _and he refused to retaliate- for example, Sirius and the revelation of Remus' lycanthropy to Snape. Remus had treated Sirius coldly, yes, had ignored him for the better part of three months, but had never been outwardly cruel.

The only time she remembered Remus ever purposely harming another was when he was protecting someone. He had thrown himself in the way of countless hexes at school to save one of his friends, had nearly been caught by curses later during Death Eater duels. Any lesser wizard would be dead by now; Skylee had often joked that he ought to be a cat, with the amount of second chances life graced him with.

She felt her eyelids becoming heavy, lulled by Remus' even breathing and her own tiredness. The last day and night had taken her energy faster than anything else and not for the first time, her body wouldn't let her forget that she wasn't a young girl anymore. Couple the lack of sleep with disturbing nightmares- which she had fully intended on discussing with Remus, before he dropped off- and the alcohol from Severus that morning, and Skylee was as good as dead on her feet.

She yawned once, before settling herself more comfortably in Remus' arms and allowing sleep to claim her.

For once, she didn't dream.

-[-]-

It was dark by time they both rose, wakened from the slumber by the faint smells of food from the Great Hall, which Remus just happened to reside above. Skylee's stomach rumbled loudly and she giggled before she could stop herself, chasing all last lingering feelings of sleepiness from the duo as Remus laughed and shook his head, clearly feeling much better. The laughter died quickly as their minds caught up with them and they realised with a jolt where- and who- they were. Skylee rolled to her feet and straightened her hair, her robes, picking at imaginary lint to keep her hands occupied. Remus pushed himself up, supporting his torso on his elbows as he watched her fidget but not leave. That, he supposed, was something.

"Skylee," he murmured, a thrill of long-forgotten feelings drumming through him at the simple action. He had forgotten how much he loved saying her name, how much he loved seeing her grey eyes meet his with the inquisitive light shining in their depths. She didn't approach him as he slipped his legs out of bed and set his feet on the cold floor. "Do you really want to go down for food?"

"I can't anyway," she responded with a sweeping gesture at herself. He realised her problem in an instant and frowned; why had Dumbledore allowed her to walk around the school without the disguise? The question must have shown on his face as she shrugged. "He's not very happy with me right now."

"Why?"

She shifted and rubbed the back of her neck, a nervous habit he recognised as one she performed just before lying through her teeth. The honest expression she gave him threw out all suspicion, though, as she returned to sitting by his side. "Sirius was in the castle last night," she admitted quietly. Remus' fists clenched and he avoided her eye, having quite a few theories on just _how _such a feat might have been accomplished but not willing to admit he could have prevented it. "Got within four feet of Harry, too. Where was I, the protector of James' son?" her tone turned decidedly bitter and disgusted, a disgust he knew was aimed inwards. "Sleeping," she spat.

He slid an arm around her shoulders gently and she didn't shake him off, as he would have expected her to. "Harry is fine, though, right?"

"Only because Ron woke up and screamed. Dickhead got the wrong bed." She said nothing more as she stared at the floor, shaking her head and sniffling every so often. Food was the last thing on their minds now. "I went after him-"

"Alone?" Remus demanded firmly, turning to look at her straight on. She flushed a light shade of pink as she nodded. "That was-"

"Stupid and dangerous, yes, thank you Mother Moony," she interrupted, effectively destroying his anger with the age-old joke. Sirius had made it first, they both realised simultaneously, and winced as one. "Chased him through the Forest- would've got him too, if the Thestrals hadn't decided they fancied dog for dinner."

"They got him?" Remus asked guardedly, his tone bordering between hopeful and grieving. Skylee shook her head, knowing exactly where he was coming from. Though Sirius had been the one to destroy them both, he was still 'Sirius' to them and it was still hard to believe he could have done the awful things he was convicted of.

"They got me," she corrected, shooting him a furtive smile. "Don't worry- I've had worse," she added quickly, and he cringed to know that half of what she considered 'worse' was his own doing. "Anyway, Sirius took off, I headed back towards the castle. The Red Caps took a couple swings, I ended up waist-deep in a swamp... but I got back here. Still as intent as ever to get him."

Remus hummed in appreciation of her struggles, the arm around her shoulder tightening briefly before slipping away. The talk of Sirius had put them both in horribly depressed moods, one that was broken by a stomach rumbling and a roar of laughter from the Hall below their feet. "Dippy," Remus called, heading for a fresh shirt as he slid his old one off. Skylee couldn't help but look quickly, though she tried not to. The comfortable feeling of being just them had returned, erased any awkwardness they may have had though it was bound to return sooner or later. There was just too much unknown territory for the awkwardness to be truly banished.

A 'pop' alerted her to the arrival of a House Elf, who with one look at Remus seemed to know what was wanted of him. "Master Remus wishes his usual order in his chambers? Dippy will fetch-"

"Hang on," Remus held up a finger and pointed to Skylee. The scrap of an elf turned and his eyes widened at the sight of her as he quickly fell into a bow.

"Dippy is sorry, Miss! Dippy did not sees you!"

"It's alright," Skylee smiled at him, knowing he must have been a child or teenager by house elf standards, as he was certainly not as big as the others serving in the kitchens.

Remus smiled at her over the elf's head. "It's still the usual, Dippy, just more of it, please."

Dippy dropped a low bow at Remus, and another at Skylee, and disappeared with another 'pop'. "Child?" she guessed. Remus nodded and disappeared into his private bathroom to change his trousers. "What's the usual?" Skylee continued, just to keep up conversation as she stood and rifled through his things idly, amusing herself.

She heard him chuckle and his head emerge, the smile as big and bright as she'd ever seen it. "Fish and chips," he told her with a grin, "And chocolate. What else?"

"You don't change, do you?"

"Au contraire, Skylee," he emerged, fully dressed and moving with the grace she knew he worked hard to achieve. "I do change- every month, in fact." She groaned and shook her head, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"That," she said blankly, "Is the worst pun I've ever heard. You're terrible, Remus." He just continued to grin as he set them a table, and claimed a seat to wait for their meal. She joined him after a moment or two, having been quite interested in a copy of the _Daily Prophet _which proclaimed the end of the First War. She had no idea why Remus had kept it all these years, but didn't begrudge him it as she shook her hair over her shoulder.

"Why do you think Sirius chose last night?" Remus asked finally, the sombre tone returning to their gathering as Skylee scowled and raised one eyebrow at him delicately.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked quietly. Remus shook his head and she was amazed at his ability to be as thick as any other man she'd met. "He would know we're here- he'd sense us the moment he entered the grounds, disguise or not. He'd have thought that, being who we are, we'd be holed up somewhere until the moon waned. Not at our posts, distracted."

Remus' eyes hardened and he gripped his fork hard enough that she feared it would snap. "If that had been the case," he said softly, his voice taking on a dangerous tone of calm that she knew hid the fury he felt- not at her, but at Sirius. "It would have been my fault-"

"What have I told you about those words?" she interrupted sharply, each glaring at one another across the table. Dippy's arrival, and the food, was the only thing that kept the tension down as eating gave them an excuse to not speak, a chance to cool off before reopening conversation.

Finally, sated and full, Remus leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly. Full moons always sapped his energy and despite the long sleep that day, he was still achingly tired. Skylee must have read his body language with the same accuracy she'd always possessed as she stood and gently lead him back to his bed.

"Thank you," he murmured, trying to catch her hand again in the vague hope that she'd stay. Instead, she twisted away and dropped a kiss to his forehead, her cheeks burning as she pulled away and headed for the door.

"Harry will be out of his mind," she said softly, far enough away so Remus couldn't see the longing in her eyes. "I've got to get back." She began to flee, then, and managed to set her hands upon the Cloak- intending to slip by Dumbledore, force out an apology and go reassure her young charges that she hadn't been killed by Sirius Black- before Remus called her name.

"Skylee!" she flitted back to the door and cracked it open, meeting his intense blue gaze with a curious stare. "Hogsmeade, Saturday," he said softly. She didn't have to think before she confirmed his question with a nod.

"I'll meet you there at nine."

-[-]-

Skylee rushed up the stairs two at a time, grateful for the youthful energy in her bones that allowed her to keep the pace all the way from Dumbledore's office to the Fat Lady's portrait. The Headmaster had been more understanding than she had hoped, probably realising that by picking on _that _particular nerve, he'd gone too far. In fact, he had apologised to her, as much as Dumbledore ever apologised. Which is to say, he simply said 'what's done is done' and performed the glamours.

If she wasn't so anxious to see Harry and inform him that she was not, despite popular rumours, dead, she would have stayed to explain to Albus just what the memory of James Potter did to her fragile state.

"Pygmy puff!" Skylee panted at the Fat Lady, who swung open without much of a fight and allowed the 'student' access. As she entered the Common Room, she was bludgeoned by three loud roars of mixed joy, anger, indignation and relief. Harry, Ron and Hermione grabbed her by the arms and hauled her off towards the stairs, Hermione ignoring the rules for once as they ascended the boys' tower and emerged on a little balcony that had served as a hideout for many generations.

"You!" Harry hissed, a mix of enormous relief and anger burning in his green eyes. "What happened? Was it Sirius Black? Did you get him? _Where _have you been?"

Skylee held up her hands to stem to flow of questions. "One at a time. I've been with Dumbledore, discussing our next plan of action-" a lie, but it was close enough to the truth- "- no, I didn't get him, he gave me the slip in the Forest. Yes, it was Sirius Black, but did you really need me to answer that? As for what happened- he clearly got the wrong bed. You're damned lucky he didn't kill you and move on, Ronald," Skylee finished, only taking one breath between answering all the questions. Ron paled alarmingly but soon his normality was restored by Hermione shaking her head.

"You could have let us know," she said disapprovingly, "We've been thinking you're dead, or lying out in the Forest somewhere. Harry asked Snape in Defence today, but he ignored the question."

"And that surprises you?" Skylee asked with a raised eyebrow. Usually, some disparaging remark about Snape's appearance or character would have left her lips at that point, but she couldn't bring herself to rag on the man who had, for all intents and purposes, saved her life. "He couldn't have told you what was going on anyway- he didn't know."

"He _did!" _Harry hissed. "The git knew- I asked him if he'd seen you, he just told me that he had better things to be concerned with, but he _smirked _at me and I just _know _he knew!" Skylee giggled and covered her mouth as Harry rolled his eyes at her. "You've had dinner," he noticed, and she nodded.

"If you must know, I was with Lupin," she admitted, sighing and figuring they might as well know anyway. She had opted to not take up a need-to-know when it came to Harry, Ron and Hermione, the way every other adult treated them. She had seen how they operated as a team and she knew very well that withholding information from them would only see them figure it out on their own, the hard way. Better to tell what she knew and give them nightmares than keep her secrets and give them curiosity.

"Lupin?" Ron repeated, laughing slightly, "Is that why he was sick today, then?"

"Oh, you're horrible Ronald!" Hermione gasped, slapping his arm sharply. "Professor Lupin was ill- didn't you see him at yesterday's dinner?" she asked, and Ron rubbed his arm as he shot her a withering glare.

"I'll be brutal, Hermione, no. I'm not the one who spends her time staring at him with dreamy-eyes!"

Hermione's eyes narrowed and it was only Skylee bursting into tirades of high-pitched giggles that stopped the brewing fight. "Alright, cut it out," she said finally, collecting herself enough to sound halfway mature. "I'll have you know that Professor Lupin _was _ill- the flu, he's got." Hermione gave Ron a triumphant stare, to which the redhead sulked.

Harry, however, noted that Skylee's ears had gone a telltale shade of red when the subject of Hermione's fancying crush on Lupin came up. The reddening of the ears could only mean embarrassment or jealousy, and Harry was willing to bet on the latter. Still, testing theories was always a good thing. "Don't worry, Hermione," he said consolingly, meeting Ron's eye and sharing a wicked grin. "You're not the only one crushing on Lupin. I heard a bunch of Seventh-Years in the library talking about what they'd like to do. Some of the language they used I hadn't even heard before."

"And what were you doing in the library, Potter?" Skylee teased gently, nudging him with her elbow. "I'm shocked you managed to find it, what with Quidditch starting this weekend."

"It's only the tryouts," he corrected. "And I'm a shoe-in for Seeker; Wood reckons I'm the best Gryffindor's had since 1976-77."

Skylee raised her eyebrows and allowed a tiny smirk to cross her features. "And just _who _played Seeker for Gryffindor in 1976-77?" she asked, grinning at his look of horror. She had been a Chaser for most of her career, but when Marlene McKinnon graduated school, Skylee had taken up the mantle of Seeker as James had found it an incredibly hard position to fill. Chasers were much more common, so it made perfect strategic sense for Skylee to become Seeker.

"You were a Chaser," Hermione said firmly, looking quite smug at having known that fact. "I saw it on the shields in the trophy room. _S. Tabanca, Gryffindor Chaser, 1973-1976."_

"1976 being the year I stopped playing Chaser and started playing Seeker," Skylee informed her three avid listeners quickly. "The former Seeker, Marlene, graduated. I finished Sixth Year as a Chaser, started Seventh as Seeker."

"Were you any good?" Ron asked, grinning. Skylee's expression fell into one of complete seriousness as she leaned against the wall behind her and placed her hands behind her head.

"The Chudley Cannons once asked me to play for them," she deadpanned, "but I couldn't, because I'm a competitive little chit who wanted to actually win a game." Ron groaned in mortification as Harry laughed and slapped a high-five to Skylee, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You just have to encourage them, don't you?" she asked. Skylee grinned and was the first to stand, having felt the conversation of her past quite over. She didn't particularly want to get into the gritty details of her Quidditch career, knowing that she'd have to name the team and she wasn't sure how well she could lie about the identity of one of the Beaters. She would prefer to not lie at all, especially not to Harry.

Although she had sworn never to lie to him, had promised to tell him what she knew, there was just some things she felt were best kept close to the heart. Sirius Black, and the exact nature of his relation to Harry and Skylee herself, was just one of them. It would destroy Harry to hear the details of how Voldemort found him and his parents that awful night, hurt him deeply to know that his father's best friend had been the reason they died.

She told herself over and over as she tossed and turned in her bed later that evening, that it was for Harry's sake that she kept her silence on Sirius. She refused to even consider the alternative, though she knew it was far more likely the trademark Black selfishness played a factor. Dumbledore had managed to guess at the real reason Skylee kept that part of herself hidden from Harry, the headmaster had pulled it out in the open and now she found herself unable to ignore the tugging feeling of doubt at the corners of her mind.

Was it for Harry's sake that she didn't admit to being Sirius' cousin, or her own? Was it Harry's safety that kept her returning to Hogwarts, or her own desire to be in the one place she had ever truly considered home? Was it for the happy stories she told Harry of his parents that she edited out Sirius Black, or for her own need to ignore his dark smear on her life?

_Give you the chance to do for Harry what you couldn't do for James._

There were so many things Skylee thought of when her mind supplied Dumbledore's memory speaking those words. Spotting the traitor, protecting his son, saving his wife, trusting his judgement, helping him instead of hampering him... none of those applied to Harry Potter, not as she knew him anyway. Deep down, she knew what Dumbledore meant though she wasn't sure if she was ready to admit it to herself or anyone else. For Harry, Skylee could do the one thing she never could for James.

She could save his life.


	9. Reconnect

**Reconnect**

Saturday Hogsmeade visits were always the brightest part of Hogwarts, but for once Skylee was dreading leaving the castle. Not only did she have a particularly bad feeling that something awful was rapidly approaching, but she had mixed feelings about seeing Remus, outside school, with no interruptions. How would he react to her so-called life for the last twelve years? Where had _he _been since 1981? She knew that he hadn't had the best of times- he'd shouted at her just the other day, that her overwhelming sense of self-pity would get her nowhere with him. Not when he'd suffered too... when 1981 had torn his life to shreds, just as much as it had hers.

Rubbing her eyes and dunking her head in a basin of cold water, Skylee gasped into the water and came up coughing, feeling like a moron for the thousandth time in the month of September alone. It was hard to believe that it had been thirty days since she returned to Hogwarts; for some reason, this year felt so much longer and she felt so much older than thirty-three. Staring at her thirteen-year-old self in the mirror, Skylee felt ancient. Where were the lines around her eyes, that were present in her true self? What happened to the jagged scar running along her left collarbone, given to her by a stray hex fired from Sirius' wand? _Why had he thrown a hex her way, anyway? _He was aiming for Severus, at least that's what he claimed- using a hex he'd heard the Slytherin boy practicing the day before, in an empty classroom... _Sectumsempra! It had burned- the cut, the blood gushing from the wound, Remus' fury, Sirius' apologies... it all burned while she sat there and watched Severus Snape, tormented Seventh Year, dig in his pockets for his wand. "Hold still," he whispered to her, dark eyes gleaming with a mixture of fright and anxiety- none of the malice she was expecting. "This will sting a little." He tipped the potion onto the wound, which started stitching closed instantly. Skylee had thrown back her head and screamed, it hurt so bad-_

_"Get off her, filthy Death Eater!" Sirius shouted, resorting to Muggle violence to knock Severus away. Skylee still screamed as her wound healed, and as the pain dimmed she watched the boy who professed to hate her pick himself up, and dust off his robes. Severus Snape never bowed as Sirius stood, wand held under his nose, and whispered threateningly. "I ever catch you touching her again, you evil piece of shit, I will rip you to pieces with my bare hands."_

_"Don't worry," Severus had sneered, gaze flicking from rage at Sirius to concern for Skylee, who staggered to her feet and grabbed her cousin's arm, lowering his wand. "I won't touch her- why would I? She's the werewolf's property- not yours, Black!" He ran, and Skylee couldn't help but crack a grin. Severus Snape had guts, that was for sure..._

"Ugh," she turned away from her youthful expression, turned away from trying to see which other scars had been lifted by the disguise, leaning against the sink and yawning again. She hadn't been sleeping well these last few nights- which was funny, because the only time she usually slept was when she was at Hogwarts. Something about being behind those windows and parapets of stone made her feel safer than she had in a long time. The school was a symbol of strength and invincibility for many witches and wizards in Britain, Skylee included. It was the only place her mind didn't wander with her father's moods, the only place Lord Voldemort had failed at mentally torturing his daughter.

Rubbing her eyes and brushing her hair out with her fingers, she left the bathroom and slung her winter robes on over her ripped, faded jeans and the blue polo shirt that had become her staple outfit for nearly seven years running.

"Skylee? You're up already?" Hermione called sleepily, her eyes barely open and her hair all over the shop. Nodding, the dark-haired witch tugged on her tall boots and hopped awkwardly until her feet were settled.

"Yeah. I'm meeting-" she cut herself off, scrutinising the three still sleeping girls in their beds before lowering her voice, having almost forgotten _yet again _that she was not talking to a room of people who were in on the secret. "I'm meeting Re- Professor Lupin," she continued softly to Hermione, a swiftly cast glamour charm flattening her hair. She would remove Dumbledore's charms the moment she left Hogwarts, so Rosmerta wouldn't have a heart attack at a thirteen year old ordering a Firewhiskey and Scotch.

"About Harry?" Hermione guessed, and although she was wrong Skylee simply nodded and checked her reflection once in the mirror; not that it mattered as she'd soon be losing the supple, smooth skin of a teenager and gaining the laugh-lines around her eyes and the scar just below her chin where a poorly aimed hex had hit. "Will you tell Professor Lupin that Harry's driving us mad about learning to defend himself against Dementors?" Hermione continued, slipping out of bed and padding to the bathroom, unable to sleep now that she was woken.

On her way out of the dormitory, Skylee froze and gripped the door's side for support. Dementors- she'd forgotten about the bloody Dementors! How was she supposed to get out of Hogwarts' gates if she had to pass them? She could barely conjure a misty blob as a Patronus, and she didn't fancy watching James' death and hearing Lily's again, seeing Remus leave her- "I sure will," Skylee forced herself to sound confident even though she was anything but, and Hermione waved her thanks as the dark-haired, suddenly terrified witch made her way to the front doors.

Mentally, she recited every cuss she'd ever heard, directing them towards Remus who had suggested the meeting in Hogsmeade, towards Dumbledore for agreeing to let Skylee out of the school, towards herself for agreeing to the idea in the first place, towards Sirius for breaking out of Azkaban, to the Ministry for placing Dementors at the gates, to herself for her pathetic inability to perform a charm that she had Mastered back in sixth year.

"Skylee," Remus' voice jolted her out of her angry storming across the lawns, the man himself appearing from behind a familiar clump of spruces. He jogged a little to catch up and walk beside her, his wand already in his hands in case of trouble. "I thought you could use the help." As grateful as she was, Skylee couldn't help the bitter anger at herself welling up and fly out in the form of a barely disguised curse.

"I don't need pity, Remus."

"It's not pity," he snapped back irritably. "It's not." Skylee snorted, almost able to believe him if it weren't for the fact that she didn't have to be near him to know he was lying through his teeth. For a witch or wizard to forget how to cast a Mastered charm... it was the equal of a professional Quidditch player forgetting how to fly.

As they passed the Quidditch Pitch, using the staff route to Hogsmeade to avoid the risk of running into a group of students and the inevitable questions their companionship would arouse, Remus noted the Gryffindor Captain pinning up a sign-up sheet for tryouts to be held the next day. "Quidditch is starting," he nodded towards it, and Skylee smirked to herself.

"They need a fill-in Chaser too, since Alicia's gone and caught Dragon Pox," she revealed, jamming her hands in her pockets and meandering slowly across the grass, drawing nearer to Hagrid's hut where the man himself was emerging. It had been a hard decision to not tell Hagrid, harder still to keep up the ruse when the large man had told her tearfully that her mother was one of the kindest people he knew, and she would be sorely missed. To hear what she meant to someone else, that her efforts and sacrifices and pains were not in vain, had reduced Skylee to a blubbering mess in the privacy of her four-poster bed.

"Why don't you?" Remus brought her back to the present, ever the voice of reason to keep her feet on the ground. Skylee snorted and stared at him, seeking any signs of joking, before shaking her head incredulously.

"You're kidding, Moon-"

"Good mornin', Professor!" Hagrid boomed, approaching from the path with a hearty wave. Remus inclined his head, being a much quieter person, and Skylee placed a respectable distance between herself and her supposed teacher. "An' young Skylee- you're up awfully early for a Saturday."

"Hogsmeade, Hagrid," she said breezily, the half-truth spilling out without any conscious thought from Skylee. If she had retained any quality consistently throughout her life, it was the ability to talk herself into and out of trouble with the ease of a true natural. "Professor Lupin is escorting me over- I want to get a look inside Honeydukes and get back here before everyone else goes, since Harry's staying inside." Remus shot her a look of untempered frustration, quietly fuming that she would limit the time they could spend reminiscing so. The school would depart for the village at ten in the morning; it was now nearing eight, and the walk took a good fifteen minutes.

"Good day fer it, today," Hagrid tipped his head and continued up the path, patting Remus on the back hard enough to almost make him stumble. Skylee hid a giggle with a cough and Hagrid headed off up the path, singing tunelessly at the top of his lungs. Remus gathered his robes about him in a neater fashion and shook his head fondly, before gesturing for their walk to continue.

"Where were we?" he asked, extending his arm for Skylee to catch hold of as they castle disappeared from sight and they were alone on the path that skirted the Forest and came out just near the Shrieking Shack. It cut five minutes off the student's path, giving chaperones a precious extra few minutes to catch wrong-doers in the act. As her glamour charms melted away and she grew three inches taller, her forehead now level with his chin, she took his arm and tried to deny her heart still skipped a beat.

"Quidditch," she reminded him gently, smiling in the early morning sun. Remus chuckled lightly and hummed under his breath, their pace taking on the speed of a leisurely stroll rather than the hurried pace a teacher usually took along this route. "And the try-outs tomorrow."

"Are you going?"

Skylee had to think for a moment; half of her wanted to join the team, be part of the historical greatness of Gryffindor's team yet again, but half of her wanted to be in the stands cheering on Harry, and making sure nobody pulled a stunt like Quirrell had two years ago. "I don't know," she said finally, quietly.

"Oh, come on!" he grinned, taking her hands in his and twirling her lightly. "What happened to the fearless Skylee who would take on both Slytherin Beaters- and _win? _What happened to the girl who pinched Sirius's bat and-" Her face fell and all signs of joviality fled the scene at the mention of _his _name, like a bucket of cold water over a drunk's head. Silence resumed as Skylee struggled to keep herself under control and Remus mentally kicked himself for bringing him up and ruining whatever chances of going back to before he may have had.

"I should've found him last night," she mumbled, sounding alarmingly close to either tears or the boiling anger Remus could recall quite clearly from their youth.

He stepped closer again, having placed the cool distance between them at the mention of their former best friend's name. "He's sneaky," he whispered quietly, taking in the faint smell of cinnamon wafting from her hair. She hadn't changed her shampoo- all these years, still using the same thing. "He knows the Forest better than I do."

"I wasn't trying," Skylee admitted quickly, grinding her teeth as she glared determinedly at the path ahead, not blinking away the moisture misting in her eyes or making an effort to excuse herself. "I thought that if he just knew... if I let him know I am here, ready to kill him..." she choked on the words, shaking her head in denial of the pain gripping her heart.

"That you may not have to," Remus finished, offering his arm to her once more as they entered the village and ducked quickly into the Three Broomsticks and for the booth in the corner, one they claimed as theirs way back in third year. It seemed strangely empty with just the two of them sliding around to lean against the wall and watch the comings and goings of the pub.

"Harry wants to learn the Patronus Charm," she said quietly, _banishing _their identical order to Madame Rosmerta's hand as she whistled for it. It was a very, very good idea for the boy to learn how to defend himself against the Dementors, especially since he would probably be coming into contact with them more often than not that year. "He wants you to teach him."

"Me?" Remus echoed, seeming pleasantly surprised by the fact. Skylee raised one eyebrow and drew an invisible pattern on the wood beneath her nose, staring diligently at the patterns and feeling her age more than ever. "Why would he want me, when you could-" Her eyes shot up to meet his, full of silent fury and more than a little reprimand. Cutting himself off, Remus nodded and breathed a visible sigh of relief when Rosmerta delivered their drinks. "-Sorry," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Skylee swallowed half of her drink- sticking to the non-alcoholic butterbeer, as she had no desire for drunken oblivion no matter how attractive it might sound. "'S'alright," she mumbled, staring at the swirling honey-coloured liquid until it blurred before her eyes. "What good am I, Remus?" she asked finally, shaking her head a little at her own short comings. She hated feeling inferior, like she didn't belong or that she wasn't needed, and that was precisely what was happening. First, she couldn't help Lily and James, didn't see Sirius' betrayal, couldn't get to Peter in time, couldn't muster the courage or humility to beg Remus to stay... and now she couldn't help Harry Potter, her godson and closest living blood relative that she cared to count.

"What good- what are you on about?" Remus demanded softly, nudging her foot beneath the table until she looked at him, her grey eyes misted with the moisture she wouldn't shed. Crying had never been easy for her, even when she was a child. "Would Harry be alive today if you hadn't followed him after the Stone?"

"Probably- I didn't get there until he was already half dead and Dumbledore was on my heels. Harry needed me, and I wasn't there."

Remus rolled his eyes, knowing he'd have a job convincing her to believe that she was indeed needed. "Did he happen to _tell _you that he was going to be stupid and go chasing Voldemort's ghost?" Skylee shot him a disparaging glare as she clenched her hands around the glass of butterbeer.

"When we camped out near that cliff, did you happen to tell me that you sleepwalked _before _I discovered you prancing along the edge in your pants?" she teased, changing the subject quickly. Remus read the distraction that she was driving the conversation to and let her have her way, fully determined to return to the original topic when she least expected it. It was the only way to deal with Skylee- she didn't believe in _telling, _but rather _showing. _It didn't matter how many times he told her that he loved her, it was _showing _her that had the biggest effect.

Words lie, she told him every time, but actions came from the heart. A mother's fierce defence of her baby stems from her love for it, a friend stepping between his mate and an enemy is from friendship. Actions showed the thought that had come before it, the consideration, the feeling that inspired it. Anger meant- for some- violence, and a punch in the face lasts much longer than calling someone a dirty word.

"Skylee," Remus murmured, his voice barely able to be heard over the thrum of the pub. She glanced at him and for just a moment, twelve years melted away in the blink of an eye as he slid his hand across the bar, the backs of his knuckles brushing against hers. She stared at their skin, side-by-side, his worn hands making hers look like yards of silk by comparison. He spread his fingers, palm up, on the table and she tried to suppress a tremble as she threaded her fingers through his.

Her breath shook at the contact, the long-forgotten sparks of desire and familiarity seeping through the bitterness and the coldness of her exterior. She had spent years building up that shell, every waking moment between the deaths of Lily and James to Dumbledore's peace offering in the form of protecting Harry. "Rem-"

"Allo, Professor Lupin!" Hagrid's voice boomed across the floor, and it was just as well they had his advance warning; McGonagall shot a horrified look at Skylee who ducked her head, shaking out her hair and praying that she wouldn't be recognised. The world thought that she- the _elder _Skylee Tabanca, the one who had been Remus Lupin's lover and Sirius Black's cousin- had died when her father did. They didn't need to know the truth, that the Ministry had wiped her off the face of the earth, that she hadn't bothered to drag herself out of obscurity...

"_Hide," _Remus hissed as Hagrid bounded over, clapping him over the shoulder in a hearty greeting. "Hello, Hagrid," Remus continued jovially, sitting up straighter and jerking his hand away from Skylee's. She mourned the loss for a moment before fishing for her wand, and changing her face enough for Hagrid to not recognise her. There might be a flash of déjà vu, if he looked fleetingly enough, but not enough for him to instantly think of Skylee Tabanca.

"An' who's yer friend, then?" Hagrid added, his voice tinged with a soft edge of hope, oblivious to any subversive goings on. McGonagall approached behind the gamekeeper and laid a hand on his arm, silently telling him not to push and pry. She knew as well as any that the Defence teacher hadn't had a chance to any pleasant company- female or otherwise- in a long time.

"Lucinda Frey," Skylee lied through her teeth fluidly, shaking back the hair she had very sneakily _glamoured _to a lighter shade of brown. Still dark, but it wasn't the blue-black she naturally possessed. It stung to see Hagrid's eyes, usually so bright, dim a little as he realised she wasn't who he had originally thought. "Lucy, for short," she extended her hand with a gracious smile, her front teeth crossed in the middle- another difference. She had overdone it just a bit, Remus thought with a small smile, but Skylee had never done anything by halves. Right from when they were kids... she had always stood out to him, she would always be the first thing he associated with Hogwarts.

"Pleased teh meet yeh," Hagrid growled slightly, unwittingly, as McGonagall tipped a modest little bow and lead him away. "Welcome to join us, if yer want!" he called over his shoulder

"Perhaps another time, I have a previous engagament," Skylee called after him. Remus, beside her, released a relieved breath. "That was... _too _close," she said under her breath, standing to leave and draining her mug in the same motion. For a moment, Remus considered joining his fellow staff members, but she hooked two fingers in his sleeve and tugged.

"Shack," he whispered to her, half daring to believe that she might say yes. Anything to keep her attention to him for just a bit longer, anything to stop Sirius' presence from taking her away- he had done it all through school, and beyond. Everything had been about Sirius...

_Nervously, he approached her, somewhere in second year. She was alone, reading a letter from that French girl she'd met during the summer. She had a smile on her face and he was loathe to interrupt her, but... he knew she hadn't started her homework, and he wouldn't mind _her _company. _"_Skylee," he cleared his throat as her eyes drifted from the letter to his face, that same intrigued, amused smile never wavering an inch. If he let his less logical self think, he would swear he saw her smile widen at the sight of him. "I'm going to the library for that Defence essay, do you-" _

"_Skylee! Quidditch!" Sirius bounded over from the chess set he'd been playing on with Marlene McKinnon, a third year. She looked quite put-out, and Sirius was shooting Remus a rather snide grin as he wrapped his hands around his cousin's wrists and hauled her to her feet. The letter fluttered to the ground as Sirius half-dragged Skylee out of the Common Room, ignorant of her protests. Remus picked up the letter, and tucked it away in his pocket as he sighed and turned for the library, alone..._

Frowning, Skylee tugged his wrist again. "Lupin, I know you're prone to moments of complete psychosis, but could you focus for a minute? I said, let's go," she smiled when he gave her a half-hearted glare and followed her from the pub, completely lost in her eyes. He didn't see the warm glance of Minerva McGonagall follow them, her knowing smile- she had seen this coming from the moment Albus accepted Remus' job application. Skylee and Remus were, despite all the odds and differences, so suited for one another it was hard to imagine them apart.

"So," Remus began, walking briskly to avoid the bite of the air. Skylee matched his pace and he knew without looking that she wasn't having any trouble at all. She may have been small compared to him, but she had played Quidditch and she didn't have the lycanthropy robbing her body of energy. "How have you been?" he asked, slapping himself mentally in the next minute as Skylee gave him a look and scoffed quietly to herself.

"Much the same as you, I imagine."

She picked up her pace, pulling ahead in minutes as he picked up on the silent challenge, matching her quick walk. She soon began to half-skip to keep up with him, and then he began jogging- soon enough, she gave him a rather unfair push backwards, propelling herself forward as she started to run. With a carefree laugh he wouldn't have thought he'd hear himself make, Remus pushed himself after her. He knew she was faster and she knew it too, as she let him get within arms' length before darting ahead and increasing the distance between them again.

As they neared the Shack, she disappeared around a bend in the path and Remus slowed to a walk, an insipid grin wiped across his face as the moment of youthful energy and lightness lifted his mood to new highs. He couldn't remember feeling so _free, _so _good. _For half a moment he wished it was snowing, just so he could throw something at her. They always had such competitive natures, such romping good fun in the snow...

"Skylee?" he called, rounding the same corner to find the path and the field containing the Shack empty. There were no footprints in the mud- the rain had been almost relentless, even though summer had lasted longer than usual that year. He received no response and he suddenly realised that even the birds that had been so happily chirping moments before had gone deathly quiet.

The last time the forest had been this quiet was the day Remus and Skylee found themselves ambushed by seven Death Eaters, all intent on stealing the Potter's location from them. It couldn't be that this time, not now- but that didn't mean the silence was a good thing. Suddenly nervous and with his wand in his hand, Remus advanced very slowly, eyes darting from left to right and his breathing short and shallow. The long-ago feeling of pressure from all sides returned as he felt eyes on his body from every angle, none of which were real- just flecks of paranoia from a deep-down sense of self-preservation.

He wouldn't have minded the feeling of being watched- he was used to it, animals always kept their eyes on him, sensing his inner darkness- but with Skylee so conspicuously _missing _it was a whole new feeling of rising terror. "Skylee! This isn't funny!" he shouted to the stillness, mentally begging her to quit the games… mentally begging her to _please _be playing a game, he couldn't handle the alternative.

He took two more steps, and he saw them. She was visible instantly, her white fur clashing with the dark mud vibrantly. She was snarling at something in the shadows, and Remus saw the flash of yellow and black that he recognised _so, _so well- "SIRIUS!" he roared, just as the black dog leapt at Skylee, skinny and underfed, but still stronger than her. She was forced to the ground as Sirius' jaws latched onto her neck and he bit down; she yelped and kicked, struggling against her cousin's grip. "No! _Impedimenta!" _Remus was running to them, casting hexes and jinxes as he ran. Sirius managed to dodge them all as he looked down at Skylee once, snapped his teeth inches from her face.

Skidding to a halt as the dog ran at him, Remus readied the killing curse, feeling his heart pounding against his chest as the green light gathered on his wand- he flung it at Sirius, and in a flash of brilliant fireworks the dog managed to slip away. Remus' curse had blown a hole in an oak tree, which was now teetering precariously. Skylee shifted from her Animagus to her human form, dashing across the clearing to throw herself at him, arms around his neck as she shook from head to toe.

"Skylee," Remus breathed into her hair, dropping his wand to the ground by his feet as he swept her closer, one arm gripping her waist as the other pressed her into his chest. He buried his head in the skin of her neck, her dark hair fanning across her shoulder and under his nose. There was dirt and mud smeared across her skin, and he could feel her shaking with every nerve in her body. "Oh thank Merlin- how did he-"

"Jumped me," she muttered, holding him all the tighter when he tried to pull away to meet her eyes. He didn't have to be asked twice to hold her, as he willingly returned to embracing her with his everything. "Spurted some nonsense about being innocent- then he heard you, transformed- I fought him, he… he won."

"I noticed," Remus said dryly. Skylee wrenched herself backwards to meet his eye, hers flashing angrily until she noted the slight smile quirking his mouth into a tiny grin. There was nothing even remotely funny about the situation, but both Remus and Skylee had learned not to dwell on the bad, because it overshadowed the good. "We'll get him next time," he breathed, daring to bring a hand between them to brush his knuckles over her cheek, "Together… _next time."_

She knew precisely what he was trying to do, reassuring her that it wasn't her fault that _he'd _gotten away, yet again. It didn't stop her feeling utterly useless and completely inadequate. As a younger woman, she had been among the best and brightest Aurors in the business- it had seemed to many that Skylee Tabanca had _no _limitations. She had gained four Masters before her twentieth birthday, and her Patronus was capable of fending off the entire population of Dementors from Azkaban. Now… now she could barely summon a wispy mess of one.

"Next time," she agreed weakly, turning them both towards the path to the Shack. Remus had almost given up hope of spending the rest of the day with her; after the close-call with Sirius, he had been certain she'd rush straight back to the castle to Harry. Instead, she cast a charm over their footprints so they'd disappear instantly, and slipped through a gap no bigger than her head into the Shack. Remus struggled to follow her here, and remembered the days when that gap had been enough for a werewolf to sneak out of. She had enlarged it, he remembered, manually too- the little set of work-tools was still sitting on the shelf where they'd left them years ago.

"Do you remember-"

"How stupid we were?" she finished, knowing where he was looking though she was already halfway across the room, pushing aside a heavy bookcase with a flick of her wrist. She didn't even need her wand anymore for simple tasks like that… Remus smirked slightly and ducked into the tunnel before her, conjuring a little ball of flame and levitating it before them. It was so much more convienient than using _lumos- _as it left both his hands free to help her drop from the room of the shack to the floor of the tunnel, all of two feet down. She accepted his help without question, both of them taking their sweet time in heading to the castle. They knew that they'd be back before anyone missed them in the village or the castle.

"Not stupid, not entirely," Remus murmured, a hand on the small of her back as they began the walk. The tunnel was a tighter squeeze than he remembered, but of course they'd taken the tunnel in single file when they were kids, not side-by-side with their arms linked. "At least you never let me roam the school, where I could've bitten a kid… at least it was here, where anyone could kill me if I got out of hand."

She didn't reply and he didn't think much of it, until he heard the quiet sniffle and glanced down frightfully, startled to see her eyes sparkling as she shook her head at him, telling him to leave it alone. Without a word, Remus pulled her closer into his side and watched her from the corner of his eye, able to pinpoint the instant they stepped onto Hogwarts grounds- like a curtain falling over her, she lost three inches of height and her skin became rosier and smoother; a child's skin.

He felt like a dirty old man, holding her thirteen-year-old body as he might hold a lover. Skylee must have noticed his trepidation for she patted his chest and stepped ahead of him, leading the way at a brisker pace. "I should be getting back, Professor," she called by way of explanation. They reached the end of the tunnel quicker than he would have liked and she fished around outside to freeze the tree. "Harry will be looking for me." The look in her eyes was one he knew all too well, and it pained him to the core to see it and _not _soothe the reluctance and the longing he saw shining in the dark grey depths.

"Skylee…" he murmured, reaching for her hand despite every fibre in his being telling him not to. She allowed their fingers to touch before jerking her hand away, shaking her head as she backed away, towards the light and the freedom of the Hogwarts grounds. Suppressing a groan, Remus lowered his head and let her go. "See you in class, Miss Tabanca," he muttered, failing at putting the bitter tone from his voice.

He heard her tremultous sigh as she scrambled up, out into the air and to the open Hogwarts' grounds. "Bye, Remus." Her footsteps thudded against the ground as she ran from him, and Remus felt oddly vindicated by the sound. She should have run from him a long time ago.


	10. The Truth Revealed

**The Truth**

"Alright, lazy slobs!" Oliver Wood shouted, as the bustling students lined up. Skylee planted the twiggy end of her Comet 340 into the ground, leaning against the top as she and Harry stood side-by-side, waiting for the rest of the hopefuls to calm down and stop chatting excitedly about how _glamorous _it would be to join the Quidditch team. "OI!"

Several people stopped moving- mostly the original team, Fred, George, Angelina, Katie- but the new kids kept talking, laughing and jostling one another, a few of the girls shooting the boys longing, love-sick stares. Skylee rolled her eyes as Oliver sighed and shook his head, looking down at his shoes to gather his patience and wits. It was obvious that none of the newcomers were making a good first impression.

Delicately, Skylee clicked her fingers and whispered _"Sonorus." _Then, taking a deep breath, she began to speak. "SHUT YOUR BIG FAT MOUTHS!"

Harry smirked and stifled a laugh as Oliver shot her a grateful smile and nobody else moved. "Right, well, thanks Tabby- let's get on with it, shall we? People interested in the Chaser position, go stand near Angelina. Seekers, near Harry-" about five giggling females rushed to clamour behind Harry, who flushed remarkably bright and scuffed his feet at the attention. Skylee petted his shoulder fondly as she sauntered over to Angelina- "Beaters, near the twins, and Keepers, to me." People hurried to obey, and Oliver seemed quite pleased that nobody wanted to steal his position as a Keeper. Not that it would make any difference, anyway- Oliver was a pretty adept Chaser too, and he had the muscles to be a Beater.

Within minutes, he had the groups in the air performing simple flying exercises, trying to figure out who the best movers were. Oliver flew among them and tapped three girls on the shoulder, telling them that they weren't making it through to the scratch-match stage of tryouts. As Oliver approached the aspiring Chasers, Skylee flew directly at Ginny Weasley, barrel-rolled over the girl and flicked her hair, using just her legs to cling to her broom. Oliver nodded, impressed, and moved on.

"You're a good flier, Skylee," Katie Bell called, grinning, at the dark-haired witch as she dipped and dived lazily.

"Cheers," she responded, showing off a little as she carefully stood up on her broom and circled Angelina and Katie. Oliver gave a low whistle and threw the Quaffle for the four aspiring Chasers; Ginny Weasley caught it first, but was quickly robbed of possession by Katie, who set off an alarming pace for the goals with Angelina, Ginny and Francine Hollis on her heels. Skylee glanced down at the stands, seeing from the corner of her eye a gathering audience in the form of Ron, Hermione and Remus. With a grin, Skylee leaned forward- still standing- and grasped her broom with her hands, flipping herself into a handstand in the air.

She could hear Ron and Hermione laughing, and grinned to herself. The good humour lasted a moment more, before Harry darted past and gave her feet a hearty shove. Falling, Skylee kept her grip loose enough to slide but firm enough to still grip the broom, and flipped it under her body before managing to pull out of her free-fall dive just inches from the ground.

"If you concentrated on the task at hand instead of showing off," Harry told her, hovering a few feet above her head. "You wouldn't be in trouble."

"I'll show you trouble, Potter!" Skylee growled, leaning forward and taking off like a bat out of hell. Harry, on a Nimbus, had a faster pick-up but because it was a racing broom, designed to go straight, his turning circles were larger and therefore, Skylee caught him quickly. "Not good enough, Seeker," she taunted, holding the end of his broom as she drew level. "Reckon you're in need of a Firebolt."

Harry's eyes bugged out of his head. "Yeah, when I feel like emptying my Gringotts vault!" Laughing, Skylee released the tail of his broom and shot off towards the three competing Chasers under Oliver Wood's careful gaze.

"Still here, are you?" he called, eyebrows raised. He'd clearly seen her exchange with Harry, but he hadn't told her to get off the Pitch. Waving happily, Skylee retied her hair into a tight ponytail and concentrated fully on performing to her best; but every time she turned her broom to face the stands, the sight of Remus' upturned face smiling at her made her heart stutter.

"Damn him," she swore as Ginny stole the Quaffle from right beneath her nose. She glared down at the Defence professor, who wouldn't have seen the look on her face from that distance, but he lowered his head and laughed regardless. "Damn him!"

"Concentrate, Tabby! For Gods' sake!" Wood shouted; Skylee had to duck and weave quite sharply to avoid a collision with the tail end of Angelina's broom. Steeling her focus on the Quaffle and the goals, Skylee forced Remus Lupin to a far corner of her mind and fenced him there with a thick stone wall. It was the same place he'd been for twelve years, and would remain until she had won or failed.

Probably won; if poor little Francine Hollis' inability to keep hold of the Quaffle was anything to go by, Skylee had a very good chance of being part of Gryffindor's team. Ginny Weasley was a very talented player, but being a Second Year… it was more likely that Skylee, as a Third Year, would be chosen for the position.

"Good, Skylee- try to imitate Levski's quick hands- dart in, dart out!" Oliver roared instructions and Skylee rolled her eyes at him; she was _not _going to play like a Bulgarian. So what if they were top of the League? They were known for being brutal and bloody players; she would draw blood if she had to, but she preferred winning Quidditch with a clean record.

"Then what, Oliver? Take out my opponent?" she shouted back, snatching the Quaffle from Ginny and darting for the centre hoop; Oliver flew up to block her, and at the last minute she added a sharp downward push to her throw; the left hoop lit up as she scored, and Oliver gave her a grin.

"If you play like that, the Cup's ours," he glowed at the thought, before instructing the Chasers to return to the ground and go shower. The next group of contestants were the Beaters; Oliver and Harry, both of whom had definite positions, would charm the Bludgers to follow them around, with a Beater protecting each. Fred and George were already the best team, and would pair together first- but after that, the two new boys would have a go.

By the looks of determination and ferocity on the twins' faces, Skylee just had to wish them luck.

They'd need it.

-[-]-

The weeks rolled by and soon, snow began to fall on the grounds of Hogwarts. Skylee had never liked the snow, she hated being cold, but standing behind the face of the clock in the tower and watching the weather was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday. Especially since Harry wasn't going to Hogsmeade, and she had no reason to go to the village at all.

Sure, a butterbeer would have been nice, if only to warm her up. And Honeydukes had been calling her since the first time she tried a piece of their chocolate… not to mention Zonko's. She hadn't stepped foot in that place since James had last been with her, though she had promised to fetch Harry anything he wanted from the village.

Speaking of Harry… she hadn't seen him since the students headed off for the town. He surely couldn't have snuck out with them, and she couldn't remember seeing him in the Common Room. He would've come to find her, wouldn't he? And then it clicked.

The Invisibility Cloak.

"Oh, for God's sake!" she cried, cursing herself and her lack of brains as she bolted through the castle, searching the most likely places to find Harry as quickly as she could. When it was clear that he wasn't in Gryffindor Tower, the library or Great Hall, and Remus hadn't seen him all day-

"Would he have gone with them?" Remus asked, emerging from the corridor to the kitchens after enlisting the house-elves, who found no sign of him. Skylee swore under her breath and placed a hand to her forehead, tears burning in her eyes and threatening to fall.

"If something happens to him, Remus-"

"We'll find him," he reassured her quickly, a hand on her shoulder as she folded herself into him, forcing herself not to cry as the frustration and fear welled within her chest, like a heavy lump settling on her heart. "Let's check Hogsmeade. Come on," Remus murmured, steering Skylee towards the doors of the castle. The further they got from the sights of anybody in the school, they faster and closer they became until Skylee and Remus were clasping hands and sprinting for the village, on the students' path just in case Harry was slinking along it.

"_Dementors!" _Skylee cried, panting, as the coldness pressed closer around them and she nearly choked on her tongue. James and Lily's voices rose in her mind and Remus conjured a Patronus with a wave of his wand… the monsters whirled away, feeding on the strength of his spell. Skylee felt a flash of jealousy that was quickly crushed as she ran almost smack-bang into Hermione and Ron, who were rushing towards the Shack. "Oi!" she hollered, skidding to a halt with Remus almost running into her, and the two students looking frantically at a set of footprints appearing by themselves. "HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Skylee roared, turning to hurry after him, and would have too, had Hermione not caught her hand.

"He knows about Sirius!" the girl gasped, tears in her eyes as Skylee felt her heart and blood run cold. "We overheard the teachers talking in the Three Broomsticks- they were talking about Sirius- his parents-"

Remus looked as pale as Skylee felt, and she nearly fainted there on the path. Harry would not only be furious with her for not telling, but he might do something reckless and stupid- like try to hunt down Sirius himself, since Skylee was apparently useless at it. "You're not," Remus told her sharply, and she realised that she must have spoken aloud. "You aren't. It's always harder to stand up to a friend, than to an enemy."

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you Remus?" she snapped at him before she could stop herself. Ron and Hermione gave a little gasp of shock as Remus stared at Skylee like she'd struck him, and if she wasn't so busy pitying her own plight she might have noticed how much her comment stung. She might've noticed just how vindictive she sounded, and how hurt he looked when he narrowed his eyes at her.

"God, Skylee, you can be just like _him_ sometimes," Remus growled in return, an equally low blow for which her eyes narrowed and her wand appeared in her hand. Hermione stepped between them bravely, though Skylee was the only real danger as Remus would never- _could _never- pull a weapon on her.

"Stop it! Shouldn't we be finding Harry?" she asked shrilly, and Skylee nodded while glaring a thousand deaths at Remus, who was glaring with equal fire in return. "Skylee, he'll be needing you, so come on," Hermione continued, her voice strained as Skylee very slowly placed her wand back in her pocket.

"Let's find Harry," she said, turning decisively to the children before turning on her heels. She wouldn't let them- or Remus- see how her eyes burned as they filled with tears, not just at Remus' comment but at the feeling of all the closeness they'd regained over the last few weeks just slipping away. "See you in class, _Professor," _Skylee shot over her shoulder, never looking back.

As they rounded a corner, and Remus could no longer see them, Skylee raised a hand to wipe at her watering eyes. Hermione caught sight of the gesture but said nothing until Ron ploughed ahead, following Harry's tracks. "He meant your father, didn't he?" Hermione asked, having figured out Skylee's parentage when she admitted to being the _elder _Skylee Tabanca, instead of the _daughter of. _Momentarily shocked, Skylee glanced down at the girl and shook her head.

"Meant Sirius," she muttered bitterly, figuring there was no point now in trying to hide her connection with the man. Harry had clearly heard enough to figure that Skylee would have _known _who Sirius was, would have _known _how Lily and James died- it was the only thing she hadn't been completely honest with him about. And now he knew… Skylee was not looking forward to the conversation. Hermione, however, seemed much less bothered by the revelation and for that, Skylee was grateful. "We've both got a knack of putting our feet in it. Act-now-think-later, the both of us. Sirius in particular had a skill for finding weaknesses, and using them."

"I knew you were related, you know," Hermione murmured, shaking her head. "I never told Harry."

Surprised, as normally the three were very open with one another, Skylee pulled Hermione into her side for an awkward, on-the-run one-armed hug. "Thank you." Hermione's eyes widened, shocked by Skylee's sudden rush of affection, as the woman normally avoided touching anyone aside from Harry, but even that was limited. "Not that it'll do much good now, but thank you for delaying it."

The three of them arrived in a clearing beside the Shrieking Shack, and the trail of footprints ended in an invisible figure emitting sobs of utter devastation. Skylee's heart beat so forcefully she feared it would burst out of her chest, and she shook so badly at the idea of approaching her godson was utterly unthinkable. What would he think of her? He would _hate _her for lying to him! _Hate _her for hiding the truth!

It was Hermione who went to Harry first, slowly approaching him and kneeling beside him, quickly pulling off the Cloak to reveal a tearstained boy, who barely looked up. "Harry," she whispered. "Skylee's here. She can explain-"

"Explain how she lied to me?" Harry snapped, his green eyes flashing fury and brimstone up at Skylee, who flinched horribly and closed her eyes, her arms wrapping about her torso to hold herself together. "I trusted you," Harry continued, in a much softer tone. His eyes hardened, then, narrowing into slits as his fists clenched by his side. "HE WAS THEIR FRIEND! YOUR FRIEND!"

"I know," said Skylee pathetically, moving closer to Harry to hopefully stop him shouting the story for the world to hear. She felt absolutely wretched, though some small part of her was rightfully vindicated by the boy finally knowing the truth. She'd kept his parents' deaths a secret from him for three years; how much longer could it have possibly lasted? "I know, Harry." Hermione looked between the two and quickly scampered to Ron, pulling him back towards the village with her, to give Skylee and Harry the chance to talk. Anything that transpired between them would reach their ears eventually anyway.

"Why didn't you _tell _me?" he demanded, every inch of his being looking like he'd want nothing more than to hex her soundly; and Skylee wouldn't have stopped, or blamed, him. "Why didn't you _warn _me why Black's after me?"

"What was I supposed to say, Harry?" Skylee asked, tired now of having to hide the truth. If he wanted it, then so be it. She'd break her only rule and tell him everything; how she met Sirius when she was six, when her mother died and left her in the care of the Blacks. How they were closer than close, defied their blood together by being sorted into Gryffindor. How their rooms in Grimmauld Place, untouched now for years, were identical and conjoined through a passage in the wardrobe. "My cousin is the reason my dad killed your parents?" she asked, watching with a slight sick fascination as Harry flinched and glared at her. This is what she'd been needing for twelve years, she thought desperately. Somebody to place the blame where it belonged- with her. She and Sirius were two halves of one soul; she _should have seen it._

"That might have been a bad start, but I deserve to know the truth, don't I?" he snarled, as Skylee nodded slowly.

"Yeah," she muttered, "yeah you do." Harry looked fit to press her on the subject, but she held up a hand and fell back to lie full length in the snow, grateful for the bitter cold that distracted her from the growing ache in her chest, and the stinging of her eyes as they burned with tears. "My mother died when I was six," Skylee began quietly, staring up at the perfectly white sky but seeing none of it; her thoughts were on her six-year-old self, as she first saw her future best friend.

"_While you are here, you will be expected to behave," Walburga Black said shrilly, leading Skylee up a set of stairs, and ignoring the cringe as they passed the shrunked skulls of former House-Elves. They passed doors on left and right, all of them closed tight but for one; which cracked open and a set of playful grey eyes looked out. "This is your room," Walburga announced, making Skylee jump and scurry to slip inside the room beside the one with the eyes, and a second later the door was slammed behind her. The lock clicked and Skylee went to throw herself on her bed, when she heard a scuffling coming from the wardrobe._

"_What on Earth?" she whispered, opening the door only to have a slightly bigger body tumble out onto hers. A hand pressed to her mouth as the same playful eyes met hers, and a shaggy-haired boy grinned at her._

"_Shh, or she'll hear and whip us both," he muttered, releasing her mouth only when he was certain she knew how to be quiet. He sat beside her, leaning against the wall, as he tugged an apple from his pocket. It was slightly bruised and not as shiny as it could have been, and somebody had carved a face in one side, but the boy offered her the best side as he smiled. "I'm Sirius by the way," he said, rolling his eyes when she snickered at his name. "Sirius Black."_

"_I'm Skylee," she whispered back, smiling as she bit into the apple and rejoiced at having made her first friend._

"We were best of friends, always together. We caused Walburga no end of grief with our mischief, which was usually only discovered thanks to Reg," Skylee made a face as she remembered all the times Sirius' little brother got them in trouble, usually for things they hadn't even done and were so disappointed they hadn't. It was thanks to Reg that they both learned how to sneak around quite well, a skill which would come in handy until they befriended James Potter and his Invisibility Cloak. "We met your dad at Ministry functions all through our childhood, but really befriended him on the train for the first time, Harry. He, Sirius and I were Sorted into Gryffindor together, but it took a couple weeks for the boys to become really close. God, how I loathed James for taking away my best friend..." her smile became slightly wistful, and Harry's breathing slowly evened out as his anger dissipated. It was the usual way; Skylee would talk about his parents, he'd calm down.

But never before had Skylee's stories held such raw emotion, never had she spoken of the darker elements to their friendship. She had always made it seem that it was friendship at first sight for herself and James; Sirius, and Skylee's life pre-Hogwarts, had never made it into the light before. She had never told anyone of how _jealous _she was of Sirius and James' closeness, or how it was that bond between the boys that had her practically forcing friendship on the shy, bookish Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. If Sirius got to have a new friend, then dammit so did she!

"Skylee," Harry began, his voice holding an unrecognisable tone that she could only call reluctance. "I want to know what happened, in the end. You're only talking about the beginning..."

"That's because the beginning doesn't hurt as much," she replied instantly, sitting up to fix the boy with a sharp stare. Harry just scoffed and shrugged, but he didn't press her on the issue. He knew as well as any that pressing Skylee would only lead to her clamming up, and now that this particular gate had been opened he didn't want it closed. For all her stories and claimed truths, she had never once told him how his parents had died. How Voldemort found them when they were so well hidden. "Harry... I want to tell you, I really do-"

"Then tell me!" he snapped, temper rising just a little as he glared at her, daring her to say otherwise. Daring her to deny him this; he was still furious at her for keeping it a secret for as long as she did. Sirius Black was trying to _kill _him, Harry, so didn't he deserve to know just how dangerous the man was? If she knew anything... she promised at the beginning of their charade, when he first discovered who she was at the end of First Year- she had been chasing Quirrell and the Stone, too, only she was much more informed, and they met by the Mirror- that she would hide _nothing. _Yet, she had hidden this...

She flinched, eyes closed, and drew a long breath through her nose. "Dumbledore received a warning, that You… _Voldemort _was hunting down your parents. They went into hiding, with you, using something called the Fidelus Charm," Skylee stopped for a moment, struggling to keep herself detached from the story. She tried to remember her testimony to the Ministry, twelve years earlier, as loathe as she was to relive _that _period of her life. "It works by concealing a location inside a secret, and that secret is held by a selected person or people; the Secret-Keeper. Your parents… your _dad… _he was our best friend. Sirius… was your godfather, me your godmother. James wanted both of us to know, but I- I said no. Voldemort was hunting me, too, you see, and I was terrified that if he found me he'd pull the secret from my head."

Harry was silent, contemplative, and Skylee fell silent, watching the Shack as memories swirled in her head, and her heart. The tumble-down old building represented the very best years of her life, the years she wished she could do-over and have them never end. Harry glanced over at her, surprised to find her looking older than he'd ever seen her, with tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. "Sky…" he mumbled, uncomfortable.

She shook herself, rousing from her momentary trance, and wiped at her eyes with a sleeve. "It's alright," she muttered, petting his knee and trying to smile. She looked away again, preferring to stare at the Shack while she spoke. "Sirius became the Secret-Keeper. Dumbledore's spy told Voldemort that it was me, and I went into hiding. Sirius did too, or so I thought. Next thing I heard... I was talking to James that night, Harry. I watched… I heard…" Harry shuddered and Skylee sniffed her tears away, shaking her head to chase away the ghosts. "I've hated him every moment since, Harry. I won't- I promise you, he will not touch you."

Harry nodded, taking it all in. He looked as though he was bursting with questions, but was struggling to find the words to ask them. This was the first conversation they'd had that was so frank and candid, with no holds barred. Skylee had always been tight-lipped when they were in the castle, but out here there was no fear of being overheard and for the first time, she looked at Harry and didn't see an echo of James, or the tiny baby he'd been when they first met. She looked at him and saw a young man capable and willing to understand the gravity of what she was telling him; a teenager who'd seen so much more than he should have.

"You should get back to school," Skylee mumbled, standing up and pulling the cloak over Harry. "Go straight back to school, go through Honeydukes-"

"You know?!" Harry cried, eyes wide with surprise.

Skylee cracked a crooked little smile and pinched his nose, grinning when he flinched away and glared. "I was friends with your dad, of course I know." She pulled the cloak over his head, adjusting it so he was completely covered. With a wave of her wand, she cast a little charm to hide his footsteps from appearing, and turned him to face the village.

"Aren't you coming back?" he asked as he started to walk, Skylee by his side until Hogsmeade was in sight.

"Not just yet," she replied quietly, glancing back at the Shack. "I'll meet you for dinner." Though she couldn't see him, Skylee could hear Harry walking, then jogging, away. Judging that he was far enough away to not see her, she ducked behind a tree and morphed down into her Animagus form; in seconds, a fluffy white wolf stood where Skylee had once been, and crouched down in the snow. Yellow eyes could see through the Cloak, and allowed her to watch Harry physically enter the sweet shop.

She watched and waited, just in case he came back out, but after five minutes of nothing she assumed- hoped- he must have left and slowly loped back towards the Shack, slinking through the trees rather than the path. She'd done this so many times as a teenager and later as a young adult, that she hardly had to think of where to place her feet. The snow drifting down around her made her nearly invisible; and the wolf form gave her an advantage in most senses.

A twig cracked.

Canine footsteps whispered through the trees.

Skylee growled and crouched down low, her black-tipped ears lying flat on her head. She buried her nose in the snow and narrowed her eyes; this was as close to non-existent as she got. She flicked her gaze around, searching for the source of the sounds; it couldn't be wolves, it was the middle of the day. Another Animagus perhaps; but she only knew one other canine Animagus.

A shadow darted between the trees, panting breaths reaching her ears.

Skylee concentrated on that shadow, her heartbeat speeding up. The shadow appeared for a split second, a shaggy black dog loping towards the Shack. His path lead him straight in front of Skylee's stakeout and she burst from the snow with a savage snarl, fur standing straight up. The dog yelped with fright and bolted off, but Skylee was healthier and fitter. Snapping at the dog's tail, she didn't let him have an inch of ground, the pair of snapping, snarling canines creating their own blizzard in the snow.

The dog was desperate, and his teeth were sharp despite their yellowing colour. In a moment of lost concentration, he managed to get his jaws around Skylee's throat and pin her to the ground, squeezing just tight enough to make her whine with pain and panic. Her yellow eyes stared up at his black ones, a growl still rumbling low in her throat. The dog shook her once; she yelped and struggled against him, sure that this would be the end of her life. All he had to do was bite down…

The jaws released as the dog backed away. Skylee remained frozen on the ground, eyes wide, breathing hard. He could have killed her… and yet didn't. Rolling to her feet in one fluid movement, Skylee transformed mid-stride, her wand in her hand and levelled straight at the kneeling Sirius Black.

He gave her a tiny smile, but her expression didn't change. "Skylee-"

"This is the fourth time in my life I stand before you and wished you dead, _Black," _Sky spat, the venom in her tone making Sirius flinch and crawl forward on his knees. She refused him any mercy as she swung her leg around and delivered a strong kick to his shoulder, sending him sprawling in the dirt with a yelp of pain.

"Hear me out, please!"

"No!" she snarled, advancing on him again with her wand raised. Sirius met her livid gaze and she saw herself reflected in his grey eyes- the same grey eyes she saw in the mirror every morning. His were filling with tears and her reflection shimmered, but there was no disguising the look on her face. "I want to kill you, Sirius... and I'm going to," she whispered, beyond reason though some tiny part of her brain- that instinctual little switch that gave her the natural skill with legimancy- screamed for her to stop.

"Wait! Before you do-"

"_Silencio! _This time, I'll do the talking. You know the first time I actually wanted to kill you, Sirius?" she looked at him, binding him with another flick of her wrist and kneeling by his head so she could look him in the eye and see herself destroying him. He deserved it! "I wanted to kill you in third year, when you shoved Remus into the dormitory and _bound _him to the bedposts until he admitted to being a werewolf. Couldn't you hear him begging you to let him go? Didn't you hear him _crying _in shame and terror? Or was it _wouldn't? _You ignored him because even then, your _poisoned _blood was in action against every _Mudblood _in your life."

Sirius managed a tiny whimper and Skylee almost relented. But no, she reasoned with herself. She had suffered for nearly thirteen years because of this arsehole.

"The second time I wanted to kill you was when you told Snape how to get by the Willow at full moon. Did you think of what would happen to Remus if he had killed- bitten- another student? He would have been _executed, _Sirius! Dead! Dumbledore would've been sacked and stripped of his power for allowing it to happen! You wouldn't care though, would you? Just a few words to Snape and Remus gets himself killed- keeps your hands clean, doesn't it Black?"

He was crying silently, shaking in his bonds as Skylee stood over him. This was possibly doing him more damage then she could ever bring herself to do with a wand. _Could you kill him if it came down to it?_

She had said yes to Dumbledore, yes she would kill Sirius. But now, seeing him, seeing how damaged and broken and terrified and remorseful he was- an _act. _It's an act! He hates us, he killed Lily and James and Peter! Sirius is the bad guy!

"The third time was when I came to visit you in Azkaban. You should've stayed there, Sirius. Because you should've known that if the Dementors didn't kill you... I would. Or the Death Eaters would. You lead their precious Voldemort into a trap, didn't you Sirius? As good as dead, a shadow of his former self my father is. And that's probably the most commendable thing you've done in your entire life. How bad does that sound- the best thing you've ever done is reduce my father to ash?"

She actually wanted to applaud him for that. If only Sirius had managed to kill Voldemort without turning into such a cowardly bastard in the process. He looked up at her and mouthed worthless apologies, ones that Skylee was less then interested in.

"The fourth time is right now. I'm going to kill you Sirius Black... I'm going to shatter your life like you destroyed mine. Did you know that Remus left me after they died? He disappeared off the face of the earth, Harry has been with the Dursleys and they treated him like an animal for the better part of ten years. I spent three years in Azkaban because Karkaroff told Dunsany who my father was- and another two St Mungo's because I thought it would be a smart idea to throw myself off the Hogwarts tower. How did that happen?" Skylee finally stopped talking long enough to look at Sirius, really look at him, and her heart skipped a beat. _"Finite," _she whispered, allowing her cousin to speak and defend himself.

"I loved them," Sirius croaked, his voice scratchy from lack of use and his eyes darting to the trees as a twig snapped. Skylee spun on her heels and held her wand before her, wanting to give the man at her feet one last chance no matter how bad an idea it might be. When silence rang through the forest, she lowered her wand and looked at Sirius. He licked his chapped lips and flipped himself onto his back. "I would have died for them. I tried to die for them. And you're right. I did... it is my fault. I killed Lily and J-James," Sirius sobbed and threw his head back in an agonising, silent wail. He squeezed his eyes shut and he thrashed against the ties, showing just how insane Azkaban had made him. "My fault! I did it! I killed them and I'm sorry I'm so sorry I wish I was dead I _want _to be dead I'd kill myself if I had a wand- give me yours, Skylee, give me your wand and I'll fix this, I'll make it right again, I'll-"

"Sirius," Sky interrupted, her voice breaking midway through his name. He continued babbling until she released him and he lunged for her wand. Dodging quickly, she heard the thud of his Animagus landing strongly on all four paws. His breath was heavy and hot on her hand and Skylee didn't move, waiting for him to either kill her or run. "I don't understand," she whispered softly, slowly hiding her wand away so he couldn't get at it. He whimpered behind her and she sank to her knees, her heart skipping painfully and her head swimming. She was face-to-face with Sirius Black, she had the chance to kill him... and she didn't. She lied to Dumbledore on purpose- _you knew you wouldn't be able to do it, Skylee! Why tell Dumbledore- Harry- otherwise! _"If you're so sorry, why did you do it?" she asked him, flinching as the huge dog brushed by her and flopped in the snow. Padfoot was skinnier than ever, his coat patchy and mangled, his ribs clearly visible. His eyes were sunken and an off yellow colour, like a starving wolf. He unnerved her and she quickly found her wand again, ignoring the hurt look in the dog's eyes at her gesture of mistrust.

He faded back to his human form, which was equally dishevelled. His hair was matted with sweat and blood, his face pallid and skin taunt, his teeth and nails were yellow and only his eyes held any of his former warmth and charm. This man before her was a stranger. "I didn't- not in the way you think. But I did kill them." Sirius looked anguished at saying it again, his gaze unwavering as it held hers.

"Don't speak in riddles," Skylee snapped and he gave a small chuckle.

"Still short-tempered? Good, we'll get on well then."

"We always did," she whispered before she could stop herself. Sirius nodded slowly and his smile this time was genuinely happy, not twisted or sick or ironic. Just a pure and simple smile that shaved years off his age and made him look thirty-three again, instead of sixty-three. Skylee couldn't help but smile back.

"I didn't betray them, Skylee. I would rather have died by Bellatrix' hand then tell a single soul where Lily and James were. I didn't even know in the end, until it was too late..." Sirius paused and stared at her, making sure she was still listening and not about to kill him or call the Dementors and have him _worse _than dead.

"Doesn't convince me in the slightest. And look at me while you're speaking so I know you're not bullshitting," Skylee demanded, and Sirius obeyed without any of his usual cocky demeanour. She had come to expect a smart-arse response from him that seeing him bend to her will without a fight almost had her believing and forgiving. But still, this man before her wasn't Sirius Black. He was a stranger.

"There was a mole in the Order right from the moment we all started. Which means it was either James, Lily, you, me, Remus- don't interrupt me, idiot, I'm telling a story- or Peter. With me so far?"

Skylee nodded and bit her lip to keep from retorting rudely. She was almost relaxed now as she sat cross-legged in the snow about three metres away from him. Her wand was held loosely in her hands and she kept her eyes on Sirius as he spoke.

"Now, we all know that Lily and James were- are- out. They wouldn't, they weren't, the mole. Which leaves-"

"You, me, Pete and Remus, I'm not daft Sirius. Get on with it."

He glared at her until she held up her hands and let him tell it his way. He clearly needed this as much as she needed to hear it. It seemed impossible for anyone else to be the mole, so why hadn't she killed him yet? Coward, spoke a voice in her mind that sounded remarkably like Snape. _You still see your innocent cousin in his eyes, _spoke Remus' voice. _You see yourself and you've already failed at killing yourself._

"Anyway, to be honest, I suspected you and Moony for a minute. And don't deny it, you suspected me, too. Especially when the prophecy thing was leaked and it seemed that it was always James and Lily being attacked, not Frank and Alice. Which definitely cast suspicion on us three. Now, who is left out of the suspicion?"

"Peter," Skylee whispered, her heart in her mouth. It wasn't possible. Peter Pettigrew... a Death Eater? He was a little squidgy kid who followed them around like a lost puppy, who was always the last to laugh and always the one with worst grades. He was a little slow, a frankly horrible wizard and a bloody coward even when faced with teachers. She couldn't imagine him kneeling before Voldemort and spilling their secrets; Sirius, however, she _could._

"Exactly!" Sirius sounded delighted at her observation though Heaven knew why. He clapped his hands and at the echo, froze. Both of them could hear the soft footfalls on the snow, coming steadily closer. Quicker than should have been possible, Sirius was on his feet and hauling Skylee to hers. "Meet me in the shack tonight, midnight. Alone."

She was left standing alone as he transformed and disappeared into the trees. An instant later, he returned and yanked her close in a bone-crushing hug. If she wasn't shocked into silence, she would have reacted and probably ended everything. The tentative, flaky trust she had in his story, the aura of truth and desperation he projected. "Bring food, please. I'm starving and rats taste like... rats," Sirius whispered in her ear. Skylee had to laugh as he was gone again, bounding away as someone joined her within three seconds.

"I thought I heard someone out here," Remus smiled as Skylee turned to him, the atmosphere abruptly awkward between them. "Aren't you supposed to be heading back to the school now, Miss Tabanca?"

"It's alright, Remus," she replied shakily. "There's no-one here but me and the ghosts," she pointed in the direction of the Shrieking Shack and watched his grin grow as his eyes regained some of their sparkle.

"Do ghosts usually answer when you talk with them?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

His look of surprise made her giggle lightly as she tugged on his sleeve and brushed by him to head back to the village. It was so much closer than she thought originally and thought how lucky she and Sirius were to not be caught together. With the charm in place- which Sirius could see through while appearing as Padfoot- it would mean another charge on his head and make it so much harder to clear his name.

Wait, clear his name? _I'm not even sure he's innocent yet!_

"Skylee," Remus muttered as he drew up alongside her, catching her elbow and turning her towards the castle. She was heading for the town and with twilight fast approaching, the Dementors would be prowling the village shortly. "May I walk you back to Hogwarts?"

She nodded, grateful for Remus' silent company and the calming, grounding touch of his hand as they slunk by the guards at the gates; feeling a little like rebellious teenagers who had been caught snogging in Honeydukes Cellar.


End file.
